r^r^c^jc^ir^^^ 

LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

GIFT  OF 

MRS.   MARY  WOLFSOHN 

IN   MEMORY  OF 

HENRY  WOLFSOHN 


' 


STUDIES    IN   JUDAISM 


STUDIES    IN    JUDAISM 


BY 

S.    SCHECHTER,   M.A. 

READER  IN  TALMUDIC  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CAMBRIDGE 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE  JEWISH  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA 

1896 


COPYRIGHT,  1896, 
BY  MACMILLAN  AND  CO. 


TSTortoooti 

J.  S.  Cushing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


TO 
THE   EVER-CHERISHED   MEMORY 

OF 

THE  LATE  DR.  P.  F.  FRANKL,  RABBI  IN  BERLIN 

THESE  STUDIES  ARE  REVERENTLY 

DEDICATED 


147094 


PREFACE 

THESE  studies  appeared  originally  in  their  first  form  in 
The  Jewish  Quarterly  and  The  Jewish  Chronicle.  To  the 
Editors  of  these  periodicals  my  best  thanks  are  due  for  their 
readiness  in  placing  the  articles  at  my  disposal  for  the 
purposes  of  the  present  volume.  The  Introductory  Essay 
is  new.  I  desire  to  express  my  sincere  gratitude  to  Mr. 
J.  G.  Frazer,  Fello^v  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and  Dr. 
J.  Sutherland  Black,  of  London,  for  their  great  kindness  in 
revising  the  proofs,  and  for  many  a  valuable  suggestion. 
To  Mr.  Claude  G.  Montefiore  I  am  indebted  for  the  English 
version  of  the  Essay  on  "  Chassidim"  —  my  first  literary 
effort  in  this  country,  written  at  his  own  suggestion. 

In  the  transliteration  of  Hebreiv  names,  I  have  given  the 
familiar  English  forms  of  the  authorised  version.  As 
regards  post-Biblical  names,  I  have  with  few  exceptions 
followed  Zedner's  Catalogue  of  the  Hebrew  Books  in  the 
Library  of  the  British  Museum.  A  Hebrew  word  will  be 
found  Jiere  and  there  in  the  text ;  I  have  purposely  avoided 
bewildering  devices  for  representing  the  actual  sound  of  the 
word,  contenting  myself  with  the  ordinary  Roman  alphabet, 
in  spite  of  its  shortcomings. 


viii  PREFACE 

The  authorities  used  for  the  various  Essays  will  be  found 
indicated  in  the  Notes  at  the  end  of  the  volume,  ^vhere  the 
reader  will  also  find  short  biographical  and  bibliographical 
notices,  together  with  brief  explanations  of  technical  terms 
for  which  no  exact  equivalent  exists  in  English.  The  index 
will,  it  is  hoped,  facilitate  reference. 

S.  S. 

CAMBRIDGE,  February  1896. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION xi 

1.  THE  CHASSIDIM i 

2.  NACHMAN  KROCHMAI,  AND  THE  "  PERPLEXITIES  OF  THE 

TIME" 46 

3.  RABBI  ELIJAH  WILNA,  GAON 73 

4.  NACHMANIDES 99 

5.  A  JEWISH  BOSWELL 142 

6.  THE  DOGMAS  OF  JUDAISM 147 

7.  THE  HISTORY  OF  JEWISH  TRADITION          .        .        .        .182 

8.  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  DIVINE  RETRIBUTION  IN  RABBINICAL 

LITERATURE 213 

9.  THE  LAW  AND  RECENT  CRITICISM 233 

10.  Tim  HEBREW  COLLECTION  OF  THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM       .  252 

11.  TITLES  OF  JEWISH  BOOKS 270 

12.  THE  CHILD  IN  JEWISH  LITERATURE 282 

13.  WOMAN  IN  TEMPLE  AND  SYNAGOGUE         .        .        .        -313 

14.  THE  EARLIEST  JEWISH  COMMUNITY  IN  EUROPE        .        .  326 

NOTES 341 

INDEX  .                                 361 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  essays  published  in  this  volume  under  the  title  of 
Studies  in  Judaism  have  been  written  on  various  occasions 
and  at  long  intervals.  There  is  thus  no  necessary  con- 
nection between  them.  If  some  sort  of  unity  may  be  de- 
tected in  the  book,  it  can  only  be  between  the  first  three 
essays  —  on  the  Chassidim,  Krochmal,  and  the  Gaon  —  in 
which  there  is  a  certain  unity  of  purpose.  The  purpose  in 
view  was,  as  may  easily  be  gathered  from  the  essays  them- 
selves, to  bring  under  the  notice  of  the  English  public 
a  type  of  men  produced  by  the  Synagogue  of  the  Eastern 
Jews.  That  Synagogue  is  widely  different  from  ours.  Its 
places  of  worship  have  no  claims  to  "  beauty  of  holiness," 
being  in  their  outward  appearance  rather  bare  and  bald, 
if  not  repulsive ;  whilst  those  who  frequent  them  are  a 
noisy,  excitable  people,  who  actually  dance  on  the  "  Sea- 
son of  Rejoicing"  and  cry  bitterly  on  the  "Days  of 
Mourning."  But  among  all  these  vagaries  —  or  perhaps 
because  of  them  —  this  Synagogue  has  had  its  moments 
of  grace,  when  enthusiasm  wedded  to  inspiration  gave 
birth  to  such  beautiful  souls  as  Baalshem,  such  fine  scep- 
tics as  Krochmal,  and  such  saintly  scholars  as  Elijah 
Wilna.  The  Synagogue  of  the  West  is  certainly  of  a 
more  presentable  character,  and  free  from  excesses ; 
though  it  is  not  devoid  of  an  enthusiasm  of  its  own  which 


xii  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

finds  its  outlet  in  an  ardent  and  self-sacrificing  philan- 
thropic activity.  But  owing  to  its  practical  tendency 
there  is  too  little  room  in  it  for  that  play  of  intellectual 
forces  which  finds  its  extravagant  expression  in  the  saint 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  learned  heretic  on  the  other. 

Eight  of  these  essays  are  more  or  less  of  a  theological 
nature.  But  in  reading  the  proofs  I  have  been  struck  by 
the  fact  that  there  is  assumed  in  them  a  certain  concep- 
tion of  the  Synagogue  which,  familiar  though  it  be  to  the 
Jewish  student,  may  appear  obscure  and  even  strange  to 
the  general  English  reader.  For  brevity's  sake  I  will  call 
it  the  High  Synagogue,  though  it  does  not  correspond  in 
all  details  to  what  one  is  accustomed  to  understand  under 
the  term  of  High  Church.  The  High  Synagogue  has  a 
history  which  is  not  altogether  without  its  points  of 
interest. 

Some  years  ago  when  the  waves  of  the  Higher  Criticism 
of  the  Old  Testament  reached  the  shores  of  this  country, 
and  such  questions  as  the  heterogeneous  composition  of 
the  Pentateuch,  the  comparatively  late  date  of  the  Leviti- 
cal  Legislation,  and  the  post-exilic  origin  of  certain  Prophe- 
cies as  well  as  of  the  Psalms  began  to  be  freely  discussed 
by  the  press  and  even  in  the  pulpit,  the  invidious  remark 
was  often  made  :  What  will  now  become  of  Judaism  when 
its  last  stronghold,  the  Law,  is  being  shaken  to  its  very 
foundations  ? 

Such  a  remark  shows  a  very  superficial  acquaintance 
with  the  nature  of  an  old  historical  religion  like  Judaism, 
and  the  richness  of  the  resources  it  has  to  fall  back  upon 
in  cases  of  emergency. 

As  a  fact,  the  emergency  did  not  quite  surprise  Judaism. 
The  alarm  signal  was  given  some  150  years  ago  by  an 


INTR  OD  UC  TION  xii  i 

Italian  Rabbi,  Abiad  Sar  Shalom  Bazilai,  in  his  pamphlet 
The  Faith  of  the  Sages.  The  pamphlet  is,  as  the  title 
indicates,  of  a  polemical  character,  reviewing  the  work 
of  the  Jewish  rationalistic  schools ;  and  after  warming  up 
in  his  attacks  against  their  heterodox  views,  Bazilai  ex- 
claims :  "  Nature  and  simple  meaning,  they  are  our  mis- 
fortune." By  "nature  and  simple  meaning"  Bazilai,  who 
wrote  in  Hebrew,  understood  what  we  would  call  Natural 
Science  and  Philology.  With  the  right  instinct  of  faith, 
Bazilai  hit  on  the  real  sore  points.  For  though  he  mostly 
argues  against  the  philosophical  systems  of  Aristotle  and 
his  commentators,  he  felt  that  it  is  not  speculation  that 
will  ever  seriously  endanger  religion.  There  is  hardly  any 
metaphysical  system,  old  or  new,  which  has  not  in  course 
of  time  been  adapted  by  able  dialecticians  to  the  creed 
which  they  happened  to  hold.  In  our  own  time  we  have 
seen  the  glorious,  though  not  entirely  novel  spectacle,  of 
Agnosticism  itself  becoming  the  rightful  handmaid  of 
Queen  Theology.  The  real  danger  lies  in  "nature"  (or 
Natural  Science)  with  its  stern  demand  of  law  and  regu- 
larity in  all  phenomena,  and  in  the  " simple  meaning" 
(or  Philology)  with  its  inconsiderate  insistence  on  truth. 
Of  the  two,  the  "simple  meaning"  is  the  more  objection- 
able. Not  only  is  it  very  often  at  variance  with  Tradition, 
which  has  its  own  code  of  interpretation,  but  it  is  con- 
stantly increasing  the  difficulties  raised  by  science.  For 
if  words  could  only  have  more  than  one  meaning,  there 
would  be  no  objection  to  reading  the  first  words  of  Gene- 
sis, "  In  a  beginning  God  evolved''  The  difficulties  of 
science  would  then  be  disposed  of  easily  enough.  Mai- 
monides,  who  was  as  bold  an  interpreter  as  he  was  a  deep 
metaphysician,  hinted  plainly  enough  that  were  he  as  con- 


XIV  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

vinced  of  the  eternity  of  matter  as  he  was  satisfied  of  the 
impossibility  of  any  corporeal  quality  in  the  deity,  he 
would  feel  as  little  compunction  in  explaining  (figuratively) 
the  contents  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  as  he  did  in 
allegorising  the  anthropomorphic  passages  of  the  Bible. 
Thus  in  the  end  all  the  difficulties  resolve  themselves  into 
the  one  great  difficulty  of  the  "  simple  meaning."  The 
best  way  to  meet  this  difficulty  was  found  to  be  to  shift 
the  centre  of  gravity  in  Judaism  and  to  place  it  in  the 
secondary  meaning,  thus  making  religion  independent  of 
philology  and  all  its  dangerous  consequences. 

This  shifting  work  was  chiefly  done,  perhaps  not  quite 
consciously,  by  the  historical  school  which  followed  upon 
that  of  Mendelssohn  and  his  first  successors.  The  his- 
torical school,  which  is  still  in  the  ascendant,  comprises 
many  of  the  best  Jewish  writers  who  either  by  their 
learning  or  by  their  ecclesiastical  profession  as  Rabbis 
and  preachers  in  great  communities  have  acquired  some 
important  position  among  their  brethren.  The  men  who 
have  inaugurated  this  movement  were  Krochmal  (1785- 
1841),  Rapoport  (1790-1867),  and  Zunz  (1794-1886). 

It  is  not  a  mere  coincidence  that  the  first  representa- 
tives of  the  historical  school  were  also  the  first  Jewish 
scholars  who  proved  themselves  more  or  less  ready  to 
join  the  modern  school  of  Bible  Criticism,  and  even  to 
contribute  their  share  to  it.  The  first  two,  Krochmal 
and  Rapoport,  early  in  the  second  quarter  of  this  century 
accepted  and  defended  the  modern  view  about  a  second 
Isaiah,  the  post-exilic  origin  of  many  Psalms,  and  the  late 
date  of  Ecclesiastes ;  whilst  Zunz,  who  began  (in  1832) 
with  denying  the  authenticity  of  Ezekiel,  concluded  his 
literary  career  (1873)  with  a  study  on  the  Bible  (Gesam- 


INTR  OD  UC  TION  XV 

melte  Schriften,  i.  pp.  217-290),  in  which  he  expressed 
his  view  "that  the  Book  of  Leviticus  dates  from  a  later 
period  than  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy,  later  even  than 
Ezekiel,  having  been  composed  during  the  age  of  the 
Second  Temple,  when  there  already  existed  a  well-estab- 
lished priesthood  which  superintended  the  sacrificial  wor- 
ship." But  when  Revelation  or  the  Written  Word  is 
reduced  to  the  level  of  history,  there  is  no  difficulty  in 
elevating  history  in  its  aspect  of  Tradition  to  the  rank  of 
Scripture,  for  both  have  then  the  same  human  or  divine 
origin  (according  to  the  student's  predilection  for  the  one 
or  the  other  adjective),  and  emanate  from  the  same 
authority.  Tradition  becomes  thus  the  means  whereby 
the  modern  divine  seeks  to  compensate  himself  for  the 
loss  of  the  Bible,  and  the  theological  balance  is  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all  parties  happily  readjusted. 

Jewish  Tradition,  or,  as  it  is  commonly  called,  the  Oral 
Law,  or,  as  we  may  term  it  (in  consideration  of  its  claims 
to  represent  an  interpretation  of  the  Bible),  the  Second- 
ary Meaning  of  the  Scriptures,  is  mainly  embodied  in  the 
works  of  the  Rabbis  and  their  subsequent  followers  dur- 
.ing  the  Middle  Ages.  Hence  the  zeal  and  energy  with 
which  the  historical  school  applied  itself  to  the  Jewish 
post-biblical  literature,  not  only  elucidating  its  texts  by 
means  of  new  critical  editions,  dictionaries,  and  commen- 
taries, but  also  trying  to  trace  its  origins  and  to  pursue 
its  history  through  its  gradual  development.  To  the  work 
of  Krochmal  in  this  direction  a  special  essay  is  devoted 
in  this  volume.  The  labours  of  Rapoport  are  more  of  a 
biographical  and  bibliographical  nature,  being  occupied 
mostly  with  the  minor  details  in  the  lives  and  writings  of 
various  famous  Jewish  Rabbis  in  the  Middle  Ages  ;  thus 


Xvi  STUDIES   IN  JUDAISM 

they  offer  but  little  opportunity  for  general  theological 
comment.  Of  more  importance  in  this  respect  are  the 
hints  thrown  out  in  his  various  works  by  Zunz,  who  was 
just  as  emphatic  in  asserting  the  claims  of  Tradition  as 
he  was  advanced  in  his  views  on  Bible  criticism.  Zunz's 
greatest  work  is  Die  Gottesdienstlichen  Vortrage  —  an  awk- 
ward title,  which  in  fact  means  "The  History  of  the  Inter- 
pretation of  the  Scriptures  as  forming  a  part  of  the  divine 
service."  Now  if  a  work  displaying  such  wide  learning 
and  critical  acumen,  and  written  in  such  an  impartial  spirit 
can  be  said  to  have  a  bias,  it  was  towards  bridging  over 
the  seemingly  wide  gap  between  the  Written  Word  (the 
Scriptures)  and  the  Spoken  Word  (the  Oral  Law  or  Tra- 
dition), which  was  the  more  deeply  felt,  as  most  of  Zunz's 
older  contemporaries  were  men,  grown  up  in  the  habits 
of  thought  of  the  eighteenth  century  —  a  century  distin- 
guished both  for  its  ignorance  of,  and  its  power  of  ignor- 
ing, the  teachings  of  history.  Indeed  it  would  seem  that 
ages  employed  in  making  history  have  no  time  for  study- 
ing it. 

Zunz  accomplished  the  task  he  set  himself,  by  showing, 
as  already  indicated,  the  late  date  of  certain  portions  of 
the  Bible,  which  by  setting  the  early  history  of  Israel  in 
an  ideal  light  betray  the  moralising  tendency  of  their 
authors,  and  are,  in  fact,  little  more  than  a  traditional 
interpretation  of  older  portions  of  Scripture,  adapted  to 
the  religious  needs  of  the  time.  Placing  thus  the  origin 
of  Tradition  in  the  Bible  itself,  it  was  a  comparatively 
easy  matter  for  Zunz  to  prove  its  further  continuity. 
Prophecy  and  Interpretation  are  with  him  the  natural 
expressions  of  the  religious  life  of  the  nation ;  and  though 
by  the  loss  of  Israel's  political  independence  the  voice  of 


INTRODUCTION  XVH 

the  prophets  gradually  died  away,  the  voice  of  God  was 
still  heard.  Israel  continues  to  consult  God  through  the 
medium  of  the  Scriptures,  and  He  answers  His  people  by 
the  mouth  of  the  Scribes,  the  Sages,  the  Interpreters  of 
the  Law ;  whilst  the  liturgy  of  the  Synagogue,  springing 
up  at  the  time  when  Psalms  were  still  being  composed, 
expands  in  its  later  stages  through  the  work  of  the  Poets 
of  the  Synagogue  into  such  a  rich  luxuriance  "that  it 
forms  in  itself  a  treasure  of  history,  poetry,  philosophy ; 
and  prophecy  and  psalms  are  again  revived  in  the  hym- 
nology  of  the  Middle  Ages."  This  is  in  brief  the  lesson 
to  be  learned  from  Zunz's  Gottesdienstliche  Vortrdge  as  far 
as  it  deals  with  the  significance  of  Tradition  ;  and  it  is  in 
the  introduction  to  this  work  that  Zunz  expresses  himself 
to  the  following  effect :  Indispensable  is  the  free  Spoken 
Word.  Mankind  has  acquired  all  its  ideal  treasures  only 
by  Word  of  Mouth  ;  an  education  continuing  through  all 
stages  of  life.  In  Israel,  too,  the  Word  of  Instruction 
transmitted  from  mouth  to  mouth  was  never  silenced. 

The  historical  school  has  never,  to  my  knowledge,  offered 
to  the  world  a  theological  programme  of  its  own.  By  the 
nature  of  its  task,  its  labours  are  mostly  conducted  in  the 
field  of  philology  and  archaeology,  and  it  pays  but  little 
attention  to  purely  dogmatic  questions.  On  the  whole,  its 
attitude  towards  religion  may  be  defined  as  an  enlightened 
Scepticism  combined  with  a  staunch  conservatism  which 
is  not  even  wholly  devoid  of  a  certain  mystical  touch. 
As  far  as  we  may  gather  from  vague  remarks  and  hints 
thrown  out  now  and  then,  its  theological  position  may 
perhaps  be  thus  defined  :  —  It  is  not  the  mere  revealed 
Bible  that  is  of  first  importance  to  the  Jew,  but  the  Bible 
as  it  repeats  itself  in  history,  in  other  words,  as  it  is 


xviii  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

interpreted  by  Tradition.  The  Talmud,  that  wonderful 
mine  of  religious  ideas  from  which  it  would  be  just  as 
easy  to  draw  up  a  manual  for  the  most  orthodox  as  to 
extract  a  vade-mecum  for  the  most  sceptical,  lends  some 
countenance  to  this  view  by  certain  controversial  passages 
—  not  to  be  taken  seriously  —  in  which  "the  words  of  the 
scribes  "  are  placed  almost  above  the  words  of  the  Torah. 
Since  then  the  interpretation  of  Scripture  or  the  Second- 
ary Meaning  is  mainly  a  product  of  changing  historical 
influences,  it  follows  that  the  centre  of  authority  is  actu- 
ally removed  from  the  Bible  and  placed  in  some  living 
body,  which,  by  reason  of  its  being  in  touch  with  the  ideal 
aspirations  and  the  religious  needs  of  the  age,  is  best  able 
to  determine  the  nature  of  the  Secondary  Meaning.  This 
living  body,  however,  is  not  represented  by  any  section  of 
the  nation,  or  any  corporate  priesthood,  or  Rabbihood,  but 
by  the  collective  conscience  of  Catholic  Israel  as  embodied 
in  the  Universal  Synagogue.  The  Synagogue  "with  its 
long,  continuous  cry  after  God  for  more  than  twenty-three 
centuries,"  with  its  unremittent  activity  in  teaching  and 
developing  the  word  of  God,  with  its  uninterrupted  suc- 
cession of  prophets,  Psalmists,  Scribes,  Assideans,  Rab- 
bis, Patriarchs,  Interpreters,  Elucidators,  Eminences,  and 
Teachers,  with  its  glorious  record  of  Saints,  martyrs, 
sages,  philosophers,  scholars,  and  mystics ;  this  Syna- 
gogue, the  only  true  witness  to  the  past,  and  forming  in 
all  ages  the  sublimest  expression  of  Israel's  religious  life, 
must  also  retain  its  authority  as  the  sole  true  guide  for 
the  present  and  the  future.  And  being  in  communion 
with  this  Synagogue,  we  may  also  look  hopefully  for 
a  safe  and  rational  solution  of  our  present  theological 
troubles.  For  was  it  not  the  Synagogue  which  even  in 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

antiquity  determined  the  fate  of  Scripture  ?  On  the  one 
hand,  for  example,  books  like  Ezekiel,  the  Song  of  Songs, 
and  Ecclesiastes,  were  only  declared  to  be  Holy  Writ 
in  virtue  of  the  interpretation  put  upon  them  by  the 
Rabbis  :  and,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  the  veto  of  the 
Rabbis  which  excluded  from  the  canon  the  works  that 
now  pass  under  the  name  of  Apocrypha.  We  may,  there- 
fore, safely  trust  that  the  Synagogue  will  again  assert  its 
divine  right  in  passing  judgment  upon  the  Bible  when  it 
feels  called  upon  to  exercise  that  holy  office.  It  is  "  God 
who  has  chosen  the  Torah,  and  Moses  His  servant,  and 
Israel  His  people."  But  indeed  God's  choice  invariably 
coincides  with  the  wishes  of  Israel;  He  "performeth  all 
things  "  upon  which  the  councils  of  Israel,  meeting  under 
promise  of  the  Divine  presence  and  communion,  have  pre- 
viously agreed.  As  the  Talmud  somewhere  expresses 
itself  with  regard  to  the  Book  of  Esther,  "They  have 
confirmed  above  what  Israel  has  accepted  below." 

Another  consequence  of  this  conception  of  Tradition  is 
that  it  is  neither  Scripture  nor  primitive  Judaism,  but  gen- 
eral custom  which  forms  the  real  rule  of  practice.  Holy 
Writ  as  well  as  history,  Zunz  tells  us,  teaches  that  the  law 
of  Moses  was  never  fully  and  absolutely  put  in  practice. 
Liberty  was  always  given  to  the  great  teachers  of  every 
generation  to  make  modifications  and  innovations  in  har- 
mony with  the  spirit  of  existing  institutions.  Hence  a 
return  to  Mosaism  would  be  illegal,  pernicious,  and  indeed 
impossible.  The  norm  as  well  as  the  sanction  of  Judaism 
is  the  practice  actually  in  vogue.  Its  consecration  is  the 
consecration  of  general  use,  —  or,  in  other  words,  of  Cath- 
olic Israel.  It  was  probably  with  a  view  to  this  com- 
munion that  the  later  mystics,  introduced  a  short  prayer  to 


xx  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

be  said  before  the  performance  of  any  religious  ceremony, 
in  which,  among  other  things,  the  speaker  professes  his 
readiness  to  act  "in  the  name  of  all  Israel." 

It  would  be  out  of  place  in  an  introductory  essay 
to  pursue  any  further  this  interesting  subject  with  its 
far-reaching  consequences  upon  Jewish  life  and  Jewish 
thought.  But  the  foregoing  remarks  may  suffice  to  show 
that  Judaism  did  not  remain  quite  inactive  at  the  approach 
of  the  great  religious  crisis  which  our  generation  has 
witnessed.  Like  so  many  other  religious  communities,  it 
reviewed  its  forces,  entrenched  itself  on  the  field  of  his- 
tory, and  what  it  lost  of  its  old  devotion  to  the  Bible, 
it  has  sought  to  make  up  by  a  renewed  reverence  for 
institutions. 

In  this  connection,  a  mere  mention  may  suffice  of  the 
ultra-Orthodox  party,  led  by  the  late  Dr.  S.  R.  Hirsch  of 
Frankfort  (1808-1889)  whose  defiance  of  reason  and  criti- 
cism even  a  Ward  might  have  envied,  and  whose  saintli- 
ness  and  sublimity  even  a  Keble  might  have  admired. 
And,  to  take  an  example  from  the  opposite  school,  we 
must  at  least  record  the  name  of  that  devout  Jew,  Osias 
Schorr  (1816-1895),  in  whom  we  have  profound  learning 
combined  with  an  uncompromising  disposition  of  mind 
productive  of  a  typical  champion  of  Radicalism  in  things 
religious.  These  men  are,  however,  representative  of  two 
extremes,  and  their  followers  constitute  mere  minorities ; 
the  majority  is  with  the  historical  school. 

How  long  the  position  of  this  school  will  prove  tenable 
is  another  question.  Being  brought  up  in  the  old  Low 
Synagogue,  where,  with  all  attachment  to  tradition,  the 
Bible  was  looked  upon  as  the  crown  and  the  climax  of 
Judaism,  the  old  Adam  still  asserts  itself  in  me,  and  in 


INTR  OD  UC  TION  xxi 

unguarded  moments  makes  me  rebel  against  this  new 
rival  of  revelation  in  the  shape  of  history.  At  times  this 
now  fashionable  exaltation  of  Tradition  at  the  expense  of 
Scripture  even  impresses  me  as  a  sort  of  religious  bimetal- 
lism in  which  bold  speculators  in  theology  try  to  keep  up 
the  market  value  of  an  inferior  currency  by  denouncing 
loudly  the  bright  shining  gold  which,  they  would  have  us 
believe,  is  less  fitted  to  circulate  in  the  vulgar  use  of  daily 
life  than  the  small  cash  of  historical  interpretation.  Nor 
can  I  quite  reconcile  myself  to  this  alliance  of  religion 
with  history,  which  seems  to  me  both  unworthy  and  un- 
natural. The  Jew,  some  writer  aptly  remarked,  was  the 
first  and  the  fiercest  Nonconformist  of  the  East,  and  so 
Judaism  was  always  a  protesting  religion.  To  break  the 
idols,  whether  of  the  past  or  of  the  present,  has  always 
been  a  sacred  mission  of  Judaism,  and  has  indeed  been 
esteemed  by  it  as  a  necessary  preliminary  to  the  advent 
of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  One  of  its  daily  prayers 
was  and  still  is :  "  We  therefore  hope  in  Thee,  O  Lord 
our  God,  that  we  may  speedily  behold  the  glory  of  Thy 
might,  when  .  .  .  the  idols  will  be  cut  off,  when  the  world 
will  be  perfected  under  the  kingdom  of  the  Almighty." 
It  bowed  before  truth,  but  it  had  never  made  a  covenant 
with  facts  only  because  they  were  facts.  History  had  to 
be  re-made  and  to  sanctify  itself  before  it  found  its  way 
into  its  sacred  annals.  Nor  did  Judaism  make  a  virtue  of 
swallowing  down  institutions.  Such  institutions  as  crept 
into  it  in  course  of  time  had,  when  the  Synagogue  was 
conscious  of  their  claims  to  form  part  of  religion,  to  sub- 
mit to  the  laborious  process  of  a  thorough  adaptation  to 
prophetic  notions  before  they  were  formally  sanctioned. 
But  when  this  process  was  deemed  impossible  or  impracti- 


xxii  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

cable,  Judaism  boldly  denounced  the  past  in  such  fierce 
language  as  the  prophets  used  and  as  still  finds  its  echo 
in  such  passages  of  the  liturgy  as  "  First  our  ancestors 
were  worshippers  of  idols  and  now  God  has  brought  us 
near  to  His  service  "  ;  or  "  But  of  a  truth,  we  and  our  an- 
cestors have  sinned." 

However,  it  would  be  unfair  to  argue  any  further 
against  a  theological  system  which,  as  already  said,  was 
never  avowed  distinctly  by  the  historical  school  —  a 
school,  moreover,  with  which  speculation  is  a  matter  of 
minor  importance.  The  main  strength  of  this  school  lies 
in  its  scientific  work,  for  which  Judaism  will  always  be 
under  a  sense  of  deep  gratitude.  And  living  as  we  do  in 
an  age  in  which  history  reigns  supreme  in  all  departments 
of  human  thought,  we  may  hope  that  even  its  theology, 
as  far  as  it  goes,  will  "  do  "  for  us,  though  I  neither  hope 
nor  believe  that  it  will  do  for  those  who  come  after  us.  I 
may,  however,  humbly  confess  that  the  sixth  essay  in  this 
volume  was  written  in  a  spirit  of  rebellion  against  this  all- 
absorbing  Catholic  Israel,  with  its  decently  veiled  scepti- 
cism on  the  one  hand,  and  its  unfortunate  tendency  with 
many  people  to  degenerate  into  a  soulless  conformity  on 
the  other  hand.  There  is,  I  am  afraid,  not  much  to  be 
said  in  favour  of  this  essay.  It  is  deficient  both  in  matter 
and  in  style.  It  proved  to  be  a  futile  attempt  to  bring 
within  the  compass  of  an  essay  what  a  whole  book  could 
hardly  do  justice  to.  The  Hebrew  documents  bearing 
upon  the  question  of  dogma  which  I  have  collected  from 
various  manuscripts  and  rare  printed  books,  would  alone 
make  a  fair-sized  volume.  I  only  venture  to  offer  it  to 
the  public  in  the  absence  of  anything  better ;  since,  so  far 
as  I  know,  no  other  attempt  has  ever  been  made  to  treat 


INTR  OD  UC  TION  xxiii 

the  subject  even  in  its  meagrest  outlines.  I  even  venture 
to  hope  that,  with  all  its  shortcomings,  it  will  contribute 
something  towards  destroying  the  illusion,  in  which  so 
many  theologians  indulge,  that  Judaism  is  a  religion  with- 
out dogmas.  To  declare  that  a  religion  has  no  dogmas  is 
tantamount  to  saying  that  it  was  wise  enough  not  to  com- 
mit itself  to  any  vital  principles.  But  prudence,  useful  as 
it  may  be  in  worldly  affairs,  is  quite  unworthy  of  a  great 
spiritual  power. 

Jewish  mysticism  in  the  Middle  Ages  and  in  modern 
times  is  represented  in  this  volume  by  two  essays  ("  The 
Chassidim"  and  "  Nachmanides  ").  But  in  order  to  avoid 
mistakes  which  might  be  implied  by  my  silence,  I  think  it 
desirable  to  state  that  there  are  also  to  be  found  many 
mystical  elements  in  the  old  Rabbinic  literature.  Mysti- 
cism, not  as  a  theosophic  system  or  as  an  occult  science,  but 
as  a  manifestation  of  the  spiritual  and  as  an  expression  of 
man's  agonies  in  his  struggle  after  communion  with  God, 
as  well  as  of  his  ineffable  joy  when  he  receives  the  assur- 
ance that  he  has  found  it,  is  not,  as  some  maintain,  foreign 
to  the  spirit  of  old  Rabbinic  Judaism.  There  was  no  need 
for  the  mediaeval  Rabbi  to  borrow  the  elements  of  such  a 
mysticism  from  non-Jewish  sources.  The  perusal  of  the 
old  Homilies  on  the  Song  of  Songs,  and  on  the  Lessons 
from  the  Prophets,  or  even  a  fair  acquaintance  with  the 
Jewish  liturgy  would,  in  itself,  suffice  to  refute  such  base- 
less assertions.  Those  who  are  at  all  familiar  with  old 
Rabbinic  literature  hardly  need  to  be  told  that  "  the  sea  of 
the  Talmud  "  has  also  its  gulf  stream  of  mysticism  which, 
taking  its  origin  in  the  moralising  portions  of  the  Bible, 
runs  through  the  wide  ocean  of  Jewish  thought,  con- 
stantly commingling  with  the  icy  waters  of  legalism,  and 


Xxiv  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

unceasingly  washing  the  desolate  shores  of "  an  apparently 
meaningless  ceremonialism,  communicating  to  it  life, 
warmth,  and  spirituality.  To  draw  attention  to  this  fact  a 
humble  attempt  has  been  made  in  the  ninth  essay,  "The 
Law  and  Recent  Criticism,"  a  subject  which  I  have  essayed 
to  expound  in  a  series  of  essays  on  "  Some  Aspects  of 
Rabbinic  Theology,"  now  appearing  in  The  Jewish  Quar- 
terly Review. 

The  last  five  essays  touch  rather  on  certain  social  and 
familiar  aspects  of  Judaism,  and  need  no  further  comment. 
They  are  mere  canseries  and  hardly  deserve  the  name  of 
studies.  Perhaps  it  may  be  useful  for  those  who  judge  of 
the  heaviness  of  a  work  by  its  bulk  to  know  that  there  is 
also  a  lighter  side  of  Rabbinic  literature. 

But  I  shall  be  better  pleased  if  the  more  serious  side  of 
this  volume  —  Jewish  mysticism  and  Rabbinic  theology  — 
should  attract  the  attention  of  students,  and  so  draw  some 
fellow-workers  into  a  field  which  is  utterly  neglected. 
Notwithstanding  the  numerous  Manuals  and  Introductions 
which  all  more  or  less  touch  on  the  subject  of  Rabbinic 
theology,  there  is,  after  nearly  250  years,  not  a  single  work 
among  them  which,  either  in  knowledge  of  facts  or  in 
their  interpretation,  is  a  single  step  in  advance  of  the 
Cambridge  Platonist,  John  Smith,  in  his  Select  Discourses. 
But  those  who  try  so  hard  to  determine  the  miraculous 
distance  of  Christianity  by  the  eclipses  in  Rabbinism, 
should,  if  they  wish  to  be  just  or  prove  themselves  worthy 
scholars,  also  endeavour  to  make  themselves  acquainted 
with  the  numberless  bright  stars  that  move  in  the  wide  uni- 
verse of  Jewish  thought.  We  are  often  told  that  no  creed 
or  theological  system  which  has  come  down  to  us  from 
antiquity  can  afford  to  be  judged  by  any  other  standard 


INTR  OD  UCTION  XXV 

than  by  its  spiritual  and  poetic  possibilities :  this  indul- 
gence Judaism  is  as  justly  entitled  to  claim  as  any  other 
religion.  The  great  and  saintly  Franz  Delitzsch  who,  born 
with  an  intellect  of  admirable  temper,  was  also  endowed 
by  Heaven  with  a  soul  —  and  a  beautiful  soul  it  was  — 
was  one  of  the  few  theologians  who,  partly  at  least,  ad- 
mitted this  claim,  and  sought  earnestly  and  diligently  after 
these  spiritual  and  poetic  possibilities,  and  was  amply  re- 
warded for  his  labours. 


THE   CHASSIDIM1 

THROUGHOUT  the  whole  of  that  interesting  field  of 
Theological  Literature  which  deals  with  the  genesis  and 
course  of  religious  movements,  there  is  probably  none 
whose  history,  even  whose  name,  is  so  little  known  to 
English  students,  as  that  of  the  Chassidim.  And  yet  it 
would  be  difficult  to  point,  in  comparatively  recent  times, 
to  a  Dissenting  movement  more  strikingly  complete  in  its 
development,  more  suggestive  of  analogy,  more  full  of 
interest  in  its  original  purpose,  more  pregnant  of  warning 
in  its  decay. 

The  Hebrew  word  "Chassidim"2  merely  means  "the 
Pious,"  and  appears  to  have  been  complacently  adopted 
by  the  early  apostles  of  the  sect.  But  the  thing  —  Chas- 
sidism  —  was,  in  its  inception  at  all  events,  a  revolt  among 
the  Jews  of  Eastern  Europe  against  the  excessive  casu- 
istry of  the  contemporary  Rabbis.  It  was  in  fact  one 
more  manifestation  of  the  yearning  of  the  human  heart 
towards  the  Divine  idea,  and  of  its  ceaseless  craving  for 
direct  communion  with  God.  It  was  the  protest  of  an 
emotional  but  uneducated  people  against  a  one-sided 
expression  of  Judaism,  presented  to  them  in  cold  and 
over-subtle  disquisitions  which  not  only  did  they  not 
understand,  but  which  shut  out  the  play  of  the  feelings 


2  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

and  the  affections,  so  that  religion  was  made  almost 
impossible  to  them. 

Some  account  of  the  sect  is  the  more  necessary  because, 
although  the  Chassidim  have  not  been  wholly  ignored  by 
historians  or  novelists,  the  references  to  them  have  gen- 
erally, for  perfectly  intelligible  reasons,  been  either  biassed 
or  inaccurate.  The  historians  who  have  treated  of  them 
have  been  almost  exclusively  men  saturated  with  Western 
culture  and  rationalism.  To  them  the  rude  and  uncouth 
manifestations  of  an  undisciplined  religious  spirit  could 
•  not  be  other  than  repellent;  to  them  Chassidism  was  a 
movement  to  be  dismissed  as  unaesthetic  and  irrational. 

To  the  purposes  of  fiction  the  romantic  side  of  Chas- 
sidism lends  itself  readily,  but  the  novelists  who  have  used 
this  material  have  confined  themselves  to  its  externalSo 
Indeed,  to  have  done  more  would  have  involved  a  tedious 
and  unremunerative  study  of  difficult  Hebrew  texts,  an 
undertaking  not  to  be  expected  from  the  most  conscien- 
tious writers  of  this  class.  Thus  Franzos  in  his  references 
to  the  Jews  of  Barnow  describes  faithfully  the  outer  signs 
of  the  man,  his  long  coat  and  tangled  curls,  but  the  inner 
life,  the  world  in  which  the  Chassid  moved  and  had  his 
being,  was  unknown  to  him  and  is  therefore  unrecorded. 

As  to  my  treatment  of  the  subject,  I  confess  that  there 
was  a  time  when  I  loved  the  Chassidim  as  there  was  a 
time  when  I  hated  them.  And  even  now  I  am  not  able 
to  suppress  these  feelings.  I  have  rather  tried  to  guide 
my  feelings  in  such  a  way  as  to  love  in  Chassidism  what 
is  ideal  and  noble,  and  to  hate  in  it  what  turned  out  bad 
and  pernicious  for  Judaism.  How  far  I  have  been  suc- 
cessful is  another  question.  At  least  I  have  endeavoured 
to  write  this  paper  in  such  a  spirit.  But  of  one  thing  I 


THE    CHASSIDIM  3 

must  warn  the  reader  —  the  desire  to  give  some  clear 
notion  of  the  leading  ideas  of  Chassidism  has  compelled 
me  to  quote  some  passages  in  which  the  Chassidim  have 
spoken  in  very  offensive  terms  of  their  opponents.  In 
justice  to  these  I  must  remark  that  unfortunately  religious 
struggles  are  usually  conducted  on  the  most  irreligious 
principles.  Thus  the  Chassidim  imputed  to  their  antago- 
nists, the  contemporary  Rabbis,  many  vices  from  which 
they  were  free.  Certainly,  there  was,  as  one  can  read  in 
every  history  of  Jewish  religion,  something  wrong  in  the 
state  of  Judaism.  But  I  know  people  who  maintain  that 
there  is  something  very  wrong  in  the  present  state  of 
Judaism,  and  who  despair  of  a  regeneration.  But  surely 
this  is  a  silly  exaggeration.  The  Chassidim  also  exag- 
gerated. It  would  be  better  to  take  but  little  notice  of 
their  accusations  and  dwell  more  on  that  which  was 
spoken  in  a  kind  and  loving  spirit. 

As  to  the  literature  of  the  subject,  I  can  only  say  here 
that  I  have  made  use  of  every  book  I  could  consult,  both 
in  English  and  in  foreign  libraries.  But  I  cannot  pledge 
myself  to  be  what  early  Jewish  writers  called  "  a  donkey 
which  carries  books."  I  exercise  my  own  choice  and  my 
own  judgment  on  many  points. 

As  an  active  force  for  good,  Chassidism  was  short-lived. 
For,  as  I  propose  to  show,  there  lurked  among  its  central 
tenets  the  germs  of  the  degeneracy  which  so  speedily 
came  upon  it.  But  its  early  purposes  were  high,  its  doc- 
trines fairly  pure,  its  aspirations  ideal  and  sublime. 

The  founder  of  the  sect  was  one  Israel  Baalshem,3  and 
the  story  of  his  parentage,  birth,  and  childhood,  and  the 
current  anecdotes  of  his  subsequent  career  play  a  con- 
siderable part  in  Chassidic  literature.  But  the  authentic 


4  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

materials  for  his  biography  are  everywhere  interwoven 
with  much  that  is  pure  legend  and  with  much  more  that 
is  miraculous.  This  was,  perhaps,  inevitable,  and  is  cer- 
tainly not  an  unfamiliar  feature  in  the  personal  histories 
of  religious  reformers  as  presented  by  their  followers  and 
devotees. 

The  sayings  and  doings  of  Baalshem  are  an  essential 
—  perhaps  the  most  essential  —  portion  of  any  account 
of  the  sect.  For  Baalshem  is  the  centre  of  the  Chassidic 
world,  and  Chassidism  is  so  intimately  bound  up  with 
the  personality  of  its  founder  that  any  separation  be- 
tween them  is  well  nigh  impossible.  To  the  Chassidim 
Baalshem  is  not  a  man  who  established  a  theory  or 
set  forth  a  system ;  he  himself  was  the  incarnation  of  a 
theory  and  his  whole  life  the  revelation  of  a  system. 

Even  those  portions  of  his  history  which  are  plainly 
legendary  have  their  uses  in  indicating  the  ideals  and  in 
illustrating  the  aspirations  of  the  early  Chassidim ;  while 
their  circulation  and  the  ready  credence  they  received 
are  valuable  evidence  of  the  real  power  and  influence 
of  Baalshem's  personality. 

In  the  tale  as  told  by  the  sect  little  is  omitted  of 
those  biographical  accessories  which  are  proper  to  an 
Avatar.  There  is  all  the  conventional  heralding  of  a 
pre-ordained  advent ;  all  the  usual  signs  and  portents 
of  a  new  dispensation  may  be  recognised  in  the  almost 
preternatural  virtues  of  Baalshem's  parents,  in  the  mirac- 
ulous annunciation  and  exceptional  circumstances  of  his 
nativity,  and  in  the  early  indication  of  a  strong  and  fear- 
less individuality.  Everywhere  it  seems  to  be  suggested 
that  Baalshem  from  his  infancy  was  conscious  of  a  lofty 
mission.  It  is  already  in  tender  years  that  he  is  made 


THE    CHASSIDIM  5 

to  give  evidence  of  an  indifference  to  conventional  re- 
straints and  accepted  ideals. 

Rabbi  Eliezer  and  his  wife,  the  parents  of  Baalshem, 
dwelt,  as  the  story  goes,  in  Moldavia.  They  are  de- 
scribed as  a  pious  and  God-fearing  couple,  who,  when 
they  had  already  reached  old  age,  were  still  childless. 
They  are  accredited  with  a  spotless  rectitude,  which  was 
unimpaired  by  a  long  series  of  strange  vicissitudes  and 
misfortunes. 

Ultimately,  an  angel  of  God  appeared  to  Eliezer  and 
announced  that,  as  he  had  successfully  withstood  all  the 
temptations  and  sufferings  by  which  he  had  been  tried, 
God  was  about  to  reward  him  with  a  son,  who  was  des- 
tined to  enlighten  the  eyes  of  all  Israel.  Therefore  his 
name  should  be  Israel,  for  in  him  the  words  of  Scripture 
were  to  be  fulfilled,  "Thou  art  my  servant,  Israel,  in 
whom  I  will  be  glorified."  In  due  course  the  promise 
was  fulfilled,  and  to  the  aged  couple  a  son  was  born,  who 
was  named  Israel  according  to  the  angel's  word.  The 
date  of  Baalshem's  birth  is  about  1700;  his  birthplace,  in 
Bukowina,  in  a  hitherto  unidentified  village  which  the 
authorities  call  Ukop,  then  still  belonging  to  Roumania. 
The  child's  mother  died  soon  after  he  was  weaned,  and 
his  father  did  not  long  survive  her.  But  before  Eliezer 
died  he  took  his  child  in  his  arms,  and  blessing  him,  bade 
him  fear  naught,  for  God  would  always  be  with  him. 

As  Eliezer  had  been  greatly  honoured  in  the  community 
in  which  he  lived,  his  orphan  son  was  carefully  tended 
and  educated.  He  was  early  supplied  with  an  instructor 
in  the  Holy  Law.  But  though  he  learned  with  rare  facil- 
ity, he  rejected  the  customary  methods  of  instruction. 
One  day,  while  still  quite  young,  his  teacher  missed  him, 


6  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

and  on  seeking  found  him  sitting  alone  in  the  forest  that 
skirted  his  native  village,  in  happy  and  fearless  solitude. 
He  repeated  this  escapade  so  often  that  it  was  thought 
best  to  leave  him  to  follow  his  own  bent.  A  little  later 
we  find  him  engaged  as  assistant  to  a  schoolmaster. 
His  duty  was  not  to  teach,  but  to  take  the  children  from 
their  homes  to  the  synagogue  and  thence  on  to  the  school. 
It  was  his  wont  while  accompanying  the  children  to  the 
synagogue  to  teach  them  solemn  hymns  which  he  sang 
with  them.  In  the  synagogue  he  encouraged  them  to 
sing  the  responses,  so  that  the  voices  of  the  children 
penetrated  through  the  heavens  and  moved  the  Divine 
father  to  compassion.  Satan,  fearing  lest  his  power  on 
earth  should  thereby  be  diminished,  assumed  the  shape 
of  a  werewolf,  and,  appearing  before  the  procession  of 
children  on  their  way  to  the  synagogue,  put  them  to 
flight.  In  consequence  of  this  alarming  incident  the  chil- 
dren's services  were  suspended.  But  Israel,  recollecting 
his  father's  counsel  to  fear  naught,  besought  the  parents 
to  be  allowed  to  lead  the  children  once  more  in  the  old 
way.  His  request  was  granted,  and  when  the  werewolf 
appeared  a  second  time  Israel  attacked  him  with  a  club 
and  routed  him. 

In  his  fourteenth  year  Israel  became  a  beadle  at  the 
Beth  Hammidrash.4  Here  he  assiduously  but  secretly 
pursued  the  study  of  the  Law.  Yet,  being  anxious  that 
none  should  know  his  design,  he  read  and  worked  only 
at  night,  when  the  schoolroom  was  empty  and  the  usual 
scholars  had  retired.  During  the  daytime  he  slept,  so 
that  he  was  popularly  believed  to  be  both  ignorant  and 
lazy.  Despite  these  precautions,  however,  his  true 
character  was  revealed  to  one  person.  A  certain  holy 


THE    CH AS  SWIM  j 

man,  the  father  of  a  young  student  at  the  college,  had 
discovered  some  old  manuscripts  which  contained  the 
deepest  secrets.  Before  his  death  he  bade  his  son  repair 
to  Ukop,  Israel's  birthplace,  telling  him  that  he  would 
find  one  Israel,  son  of  Eliezer,  to  whom  the  precious 
documents  were  to  be  entrusted.  They  possessed,  so  the 
old  man  declared,  a  certain  mystic  and  heavenly  affinity 
with  Israel's  soul.  The  student  carried  out  his  father's 
instructions,  and  at  last  disc9vered  the  object  of  his 
search  in  the  beadle  of  the  Beth  Hammidrash.  Israel 
admitted  him  to  his  friendship  and  confidence  on  the 
condition  of  secrecy  as  to  his  real  character.  The  student, 
however,  paid  dearly  for  this  acquaintance  with  Israel. 
Contrary  to  Baalshem's  advice,  he  entered  upon  a  danger- 
ous incantation  in  the  course  of  which  he  made  a  mistake 
so  serious  that  it  cost  him  his  life. 

Upon  the  death  of  his  friend,  Baalshem  left  his  native 
village  and  settled  as  a  teacher  in  a  small  town  near 
Brody.  Here,  although  his  true  mission  and  character 
were  still  unknown,  he  became  much  respected  for  his 
rigid  probity,  and  was  frequently  chosen  as  umpire  in 
disputes  among  Jews.  On  one  of  these  occasions  he 
arbitrated  with  so  much  learning  and  impartiality  that 
not  only  did  he  satisfy  both  parties,  but  one  of  them, 
a  learned  man  of  Brody,  named  Abraham,  offered  him 
his  own  daughter  in  marriage.  Israel,  to  whom  it  had 
been  revealed  that  Abraham's  daughter  was  his  predes- 
tined wife,  immediately  accepted  the  offer  and  the  act  of 
betrothal  was  drawn  up.  But  wishing  his  true  character  to 
remain  unknown  he  stipulated  that  Abraham,  although  a 
"Talmid  Chacham  "  (student)5  himself  and  therefore  pre- 
sumably desirous  that  his  daughter  should  marry  a  scholar, 


3  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

should  omit  from  the  betrothal-deed  all  the  titles  of  honour 
usually  appended  to  the  name  of  a  learned  bridegroom. 
While  returning  to  Brody,  Abraham  died,  and  Gershon 
his  son,  a  scholar  still  greater  and  more  celebrated  than 
his  father,  was  surprised  and  shocked  to  find  a  deed  of 
betrothal  among  his  father's  papers,  from  which  it  appeared 
that  his  sister  was  to  wed  a  man  with  apparently  no  claim 
to  scholarship  or  learning.  He  protested  to  his  sister, 
but  she  declined  to  entertain  any  objections  to  a  marriage 
which  her  father  had  arranged.  When  the  time  for  the 
wedding  was  at  hand,  Israel  gave  up  his  post  as  teacher, 
and  repaired  to  Brody.  Disguised  as  a  peasant  he  pre- 
sented himself  before  his  future  brother-in-law,  who  was 
then  fulfilling  some  high  judicial  function.  Gershon  taking 
him  for  a  beggar  offered  him  alms,  but  Israel,  refusing 
the  money,  asked  for  a  private  interview,  stating  that  he 
had  an  important  secret  to  reveal.  He  then,  to  Gershon's 
surprise  and  disgust,  explained  who  he  was  and  that  he 
had  come  to  claim  his  bride.  As  the  girl  was  determined 
to  obey  her  father's  will  the  affair  was  settled  and  the  day 
fixed.  On  the  morning  of  the  wedding  Israel  revealed  to 
his  bride  his  real  character  and  mission,  at  the  same  time 
enjoining  secrecy.  Evil  fortunes  would  befall  them,  he 
said,  but  a  better  time  would  eventually  follow. 

After  the  wedding,  Gershon,  having  in  vain  attempted 
to  instruct  his  seemingly  ignorant  brother-in-law,  decided 
to  rid  himself  of  his  presence.  He  gave  his  sister  the 
choice  of  being  separated  from  her  husband,  or  of  leaving 
the  town  in  his  company.  She  chose  the  latter,  and  there- 
upon the  two  left  Brody  and  began  a  life  of  hardship  and 
suffering.  Israel  chose  for  his  new  home  a  spot  on  one 
of  the  spurs  of  the  Carpathian  Mountains.  No  Jews  lived 


THE    CHASSIDIM  g 

there,  and  Israel  and  his  wife  were  thus  separated  from 
the  society  of  their  fellows  in  a  life  of  complete  and  un- 
changing solitude.  Israel  dug  lime  in  the  ravines  among 
the  mountains,  and  his  wife  conveyed,  it  for  sale  to  the 
nearest  town.  Their  life  at  this  period  seems  to  have 
been  one  of  great  privation,  but  the  harder  Israel's  out- 
ward lot,  the  more  he  increased  in  spiritual  greatness.  In 
his  solitude  he  gave  himself  up  entirely  to  devotion  and 
religious  contemplation.  His  habit  was  to  climb  to  the 
summit  of  the  mountains  and  wander  about  rapt  in  spirit- 
ual ecstasies.  He  fasted,  prayed,  made  continual  ablu- 
tions, and  observed  all  the  customary  outward  and  inward 
exercises  of  piety  and  devotion. 

After  seven  years,  Gershon,  who  was  well  aware  of 
the  bitter  poverty  which  his  sister  endured,  relented  and 
brought  her  and  her  husband  back  to  Brody.  At  first 
he  employed  Baalshem  as  his  coachman,  but  as  he  proved 
wholly  unfit  for  this  work  Gershon  rented  a  small  inn 
in  a  remote  village,  and  there  established  his  sister  and 
her  husband.  The  business  of  the  inn  was  managed 
by  the  wife,  while  Baalshem  passed  most  of  his  time 
in  a  hut  in  a  neighbouring  forest.  Here  he  once  more 
gave  himself  up  to  meditation  and  preparation  for  his 
future  work,  and  here,  a  little  later,  when  nearly  forty- 
two  years  of  age,  to  a  few  chosen  spirits,  afterwards  his 
most  fervent  disciples,  he  first  revealed  his  true  character 
and  mission. 

From  this  point  unfortunately  the  materials  for  a  con- 
tinuous biography  are  wanting ;  we  next  hear  of  Baalshem 
discharging  the  functions  of  an  ordinary  Rabbi  at  Mied- 
ziboz  in  Podolia,  but  for  the  remainder  of  his  personal 
history  we  have  to  be  content  with  detached  anecdotes 


10  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

and  fragmentary  passages  in  his  life,  the  sum  total  of 
which  goes  to  show  that  he  resided  in  Podolia  and  Walla- 
chia,  teaching  his  doctrines  to  his  disciples  and  "  working 
Wonders."  He  does  not  seem  to  have  figured  as  a  public 
preacher,  nor  has  he  left  behind  him  any  written  work. 
He  appears  rather  to  have  used  the  method,  familiar  to 
students  of  Greek  philosophy,  of  teaching  by  conversa- 
tions with  his  friends  and  disciples.  These  conversations, 
and  the  parables  with  which  they  were  largely  inter- 
spersed, were  remembered  and  stored  up  by  his  hearers. 
By  his  neighbours  the  country  folk,  Baalshem  was  re- 
garded simply  as  "a  man  of  God."  He  was  allowed  to 
pursue  his  course  undisturbed  by  persecution  of  the 
serious  character  which  his  more  aggressive  successors 
provoked.  Such  of  the  Rabbis  as  were  aware  of  his 
existence  despised  him  and  his  ways,  but  the  Rabbini- 
cal world  was  at  that  time  too  much  occupied  in  the 
controversy  between  Eybeschiitz  and  Emden  to  concern 
itself  with  the  vagaries  of  an  obscure  and  apparently 
"  unlearned "  eccentric.  Baalshem  also  took  part  in  the 
disputes  which  were  held  in  Lemberg,  the  capital  of 
Galicia  (1/57?),  between  the  Rabbis  and  the  Frankists,6 
who  denounced  the  Talmud  to  the  Polish  Government 
and  wanted  to  have  all  the  Rabbinical  books  destroyed. 
Baalshem  suffered  from  this  excitement  in  a  most  terri- 
ble way.  The  abrogation  of  the  Oral  Law  meant  for 
him  the  ruin  of  Judaism. 

Baalshem,  in  forming  the  little  band  of  devoted  fol- 
lowers who  were  destined  to  spread  a  knowledge  of  his 
creed,  travelled  considerably  about  Wallachia.  He  at 
one  time  decided  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to  Palestine,  but 
when  he  reached  Constantinople  he  felt  himself  inspired 


THE    CHASSIDIM  H 

to  return  and  continue  his  work  at  home.  He  died  at 
Miedziboz  on  the  eve  of  Pentecost,  1761. 

After  his  death  his  disciples,  of  whom  one  Beer  of 
Mizriez  was  the  most  prominent,  undertook  the  prosely- 
tising mission  for  which  Baalshem  had  prepared  them, 
but  from  which  he  himself  appears  to  have  abstained. 
They  preached  and  taught  in  all  the  provinces  of  Russia 
where  Jews  may  reside,  and  in  Roumania,  and  Galicia. 
The  number  of  the  sect  at  the  present  day  is  probably 
about  half  a  million. 

Returning  now  to  Baalshem  the  founder,  it  may  be 
noted  that  his  appearance  as  a  teacher  and  reformer  was 
accompanied  and  justified  by  a  customary  and  adequate 
number  of  miracles.  To  one  disciple  he  revealed  secrets 
which  could  have  become  known  to  him  only  by  divine 
revelation ;  to  another  he  appeared  with  a  nimbus  round 
his  head.  On  the  evidence  of  the  Chassidim  we  learn 
that  Baalshem  performed  all  the  recognised  signs  and 
marvels  which  have  ever  been  the  customary  minor  char- 
acteristics of  men  of  similar  type  in  similar  environment. 
When  Baalshem  desired  to  cross  a  stream,  he  spread 
forth  his  mantle  upon  the  waters,  and  standing  there- 
upon passed  safely  to  the  other  side.  Ghosts  evacuated 
haunted  houses  at  the  mere  mention  of  his  name.  Was 
he  alone  in  the  forest  on  a  wintry  night,  he  had  but  to 
touch  a  tree  with  his  finger  tips  and  flames  burst  forth. 
When  his  spirit  wandered  through  the  angelic  spheres,  as 
was  frequently  the  case,  he  obtained  access  to  Paradise 
for  millions  of  pining  souls  who  had  vainly  waited  with- 
out through  long  thousands  of  mournful  years.  These 
and  other  miracles  need  not  be  examined.  Here,  as  in  the 
case  of  other  such  blissful  seasons  of  grace,  they  were  the 


12  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

ephemeral  though  important  accessories  in  establishing 
the  inspired  character  of  his  utterances  and  the  authority 
of  his  injunctions.  It  is  not  as  a  worker  of  miracles,  but 
as  a  religious  teacher  and  reformer,  that  Baalshem  is 
interesting. 

Properly  to  understand  the  nature  and  special  direction 
of  his  teaching,  it  is  necessary  in  some  measure  to  realise 
the  character  of  the  field  in  which  he  worked ;  to  consider, 
in  other  words,  the  moral  and  religious  condition  of  the 
Jews  in  those  districts  where  Chassidism  first  took  root. 

In  a  Hebrew  Hymn,  written  about  1000  A.C.,  and  still 
recited  in  the  synagogue  on  the  Day  of  Atonement,  the 
poet  expresses  the  strange  and  bitter  fortunes  of  his  race 
in  touching  words  of  mingled  sorrow  and  exultation. 

Destroyed  lies  Zion  and  profaned, 
Of  splendour  and  renown  bereft, 
Her  ancient  glories  wholly  waned, 
One  deathless  treasure  only  left; 

Still  ours,  O  Lord, 

Thy  Holy  Word. 

And  this  Divine  Word  it  was,  which  a  persecuted  relig- 
ion has  sought  to  preserve  intact  through  so  many  cen- 
turies of  persecution,  and  for  the  sake  of  which  no  labour 
seemed  too  severe,  no  sacrifice  too  large.  "  Bethink 
Thee,  O  God,"  exclaimed  one  of  our  Jewish  sages  who 
flourished  about  the  same  period,  "  bethink  Thee  of  Thy 
faithful  children  who,  amid  their  poverty  and  want,  are 
busy  in  the  study  of  Thy  Law.  Bethink  Thee  of  the 
poor  in  Israel  who  are  willing  to  suffer  hunger  and  desti- 
tution if  only  they  can  secure  for  their  children  the  know- 
ledge of  Thy  Law."  And  so  indeed  it  was.  Old  and 


THE    CHASSIDIM  13 

young,  weak  and  strong,  rich  and  poor,  all  pursued  that 
single  study,  the  Torah.  The  product  of  this  prolonged 
study  is  that  gigantic  literature  which,  as  a  long  unbroken 
chain  of  spiritual  activity,  connects  together  the  various 
periods  of  the  Jews'  chequered  and  eventful  history.  All 
ages  and  all  lands  have  contributed  to  the  develop- 
ment of  this  supreme  study.  For  under  the  word  Torah 
was  comprised  not  only  the  Law,  but  also  the  contri- 
butions of  later  times  expressing  either  the  thoughts  or 
the  emotions  of  holy  and  sincere  men ;  and  even  their 
honest  scepticism  was  not  entirely  excluded.  As  in  the 
canon  of  the  Bible,  Ecclesiastes  and  the  Song  of  Solomon 
found  place  in  the  same  volume  that  contains  the  Law 
and  the  Prophets,  so  at  a  later  time  people  did  not  object 
to  put  the  philosophical  works  of  Maimonides  and  the 
songs  of  Judah  Hallevi  on  the  same  level  with  the  Code 
of  the  Law  compiled  by  R.  Isaac  Alfasi,  and  the  com- 
mentaries on  the  Bible  by  R.  Solomon  b.  Isaac.7  None 
of  them  was  declared  infallible,  but  also  to  none  of  them, 
as  soon  as  people  were  convinced  of  the  author's  sin- 
cerity, was  denied  the  homage  due  to  seekers  after  truth. 
Almost  every  author  was  called  Rabbi  ("  my  master ") 
or  Rabbenu  ("  our  master  "),8  and  nearly  every  book  was 
regarded  more  or  less  as  a  contribution  to  the  great  bulk 
of  the  Torah.  It  was  called  Writ,9  and  was  treated  with 
a  certain  kind  of  piety.  But,  by  a  series  of  accidents  too 
long  to  be  related  here,  sincerity  ceased  and  sport  took 
its  place.  I  refer  to  the  casuistic  schools  commonly 
known  by  the  name  of  Pilpulists 10  (the  "  seasoned  "  or  the 
"  sharp  "  ones),  who  flourished  in  the  last  two  centuries 
preceding  ours.  To  the  authors  of  this  unhappy  period, 
a  few  glorious  exceptions  always  allowed,  the  preceding 


I4  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Jewish  literature  did  not  mean  a  "fountain  of  living 
waters,"  supplying  men  with  truth  and  religious  inspira- 
tion, but  rather  a  kind  of  armoury  providing  them  with 
juristic  cases  over  which  to  fight,  and  to  out-do  each  other 
in  sophistry  and  subtlety.  As  a  consequence  they  cared 
little  or  nothing  for  that  part  of  the  Jewish  literature  that 
appeals  less  to  the  intellect  than  to  the  feelings  of  men. 
In  short,  religion  consisted  only  of  complicated  cases  and 
innumerable  ordinances,  in  which  the  wit  of  these  men 
found  delight.  But  the  emotional  part  of  it,  whose  root  is 
the  Faith  and  Love  of  men,  was  almost  entirely  neglected. 

But  it  was  precisely  these  higher  religious  emotions 
that  were  Baalshem's  peculiar  province,  and  it  was  to 
them  that  he  assigned  in  his  religious  system  a  place  be- 
fitting their  importance  and  their  dignity.  And  the  local- 
ity where  his  ministration  lay  was  curiously  adapted  for 
such  propaganda.  To  that  universal  study  of  the  Law 
of  which  I  have  just  spoken  there  was  one  exception. 
That  exception  was  amongst  the  Jews  in  the  territories 
which  bordered  on  the  Carpathian  Mountains,  and  com- 
prise the  principalities  of  Moldavia,  and  Wallachia,  Buko- 
wina,  and  the  Ukraine. 

It  is  historically  certain  that  the  first  arrival  of  the 
Jews  in  Roumania  was  at  a  very  early  date,  but  there  is 
no  trace  of  any  intellectual  productivity  among  the  immi- 
grants until  recent  times,  and  it  is  admitted  that  the  study 
of  the  Law  was  almost  entirely  neglected.  It  was  in 
these  districts  of  mental,  and  perhaps  we  might  add  of 
even  spiritual,  darkness  that  Chassidism  took  its  rise  and 
achieved  its  first  success.  "  The  sect  of  the  Chassidim," 
says  one  of  the  bitterest  but  most  trustworthy  of  their 
opponents,  "  first  gained  ground  in  the  most  uncivilised 


THE    C PI  A  SSI  DIM  ^ 

provinces;  in  the  wild  ravines  of  Wallachia  and  the 
dreary  steppes  of  the  Ukraine." 

Apart  from  the  genius  of  its  founder,  Chassidism  owed 
its  rapid  growth  to  the  intellectual  barrenness  of  these 
districts  as  compared  with  the  intellectual  fertility  of  the 
other  regions  where  Jews  most  thickly  congregated.  The 
Roumanian  Jews  were  to  some  extent  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Rabbis  of  Poland.  Now  the  Poles  were  cele- 
brated even  in  Germany  for  the  elaboration  of  their  casuis- 
try. These  over-subtle  Rabbis,  delighting  in  the  quibbles 
of  their  sophistry,  and  reducing  religion  to  an  unending 
number  of  juristic  calculations  and  all  sorts  of  possibilities 
and  impossibilities,  were  but  too  apt  to  forget  the  claims 
of  feeling  in  their  eager  desire  to  question  and  to  settle 
everything.  They  may  have  been  satisfactory  guides  in 
matters  spiritual  to  the  men  of  their  own  stamp,  but  they 
were  of  no  avail  to  their  Roumanian  brethren  who  failed 
to  recognise  religion  in  the  garb  of  casuistry.  It  was, 
therefore,  not  surprising  that  a  revolt  against  the  excess  of 
intellectualism  should  have  sprung  up  and  flourished  in 
those  districts  where  the  inhabitants  were  constitutionally 
incapable  of  appreciating  the  delights  of  argument.  The 
field  was  ready,  and  in  the  fulness  of  time  came  the  sower 
in  the  person  of  Baalshem. 

In  the  above  estimate  of  the  Polish  Rabbis  there 
undoubtedly  lurks  a  touch  of  exaggeration.  But  it  rep- 
resents the  view  which  the  Chassidim  took  of  their  oppo- 
nents. The  whole  life  of  Baalshem  is  a  protest  against 
the  typical  Rabbi  thus  conceived.  The  essential  differ- 
ence in  the  ideals  of  the  two  parties  is  perhaps  best  illus- 
trated in  those  portions  of  their  biographical  literature 
where  legend  treads  most  closely  upon  the  heels  of  fact. 


!6  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

The  hero  of  Polish  Rabbinic  biography  at  five  years  of 
age  can  recite  by  heart  the  most  difficult  tractates  of  the 
Talmud ;  at  eight  he  is  the  disciple  of  the  most  celebrated 
teacher  of  the  time,  and  perplexes  him  by  the  penetrative 
subtlety  of  his  questions ;  while  at  thirteen  he  appears 
before  the  world  as  a  full-fledged  Doctor  of  the  Law. 

The  hero  of  the  Chassidim  has  a  totally  different  educa- 
tion, and  his  distinctive  glory  is  of  another  kind.  The 
legendary  stories  about  Baalshem's  youth  tell  us  little  of 
his  proficiency  in  Talmudic  studies ;  instead  of  sitting  in 
the  Beth  Hammidrash  with  the  folios  of  some  casuistic 
treatise  spread  out  before  him,  Baalshem  passes  his  time 
singing  hymns  out  of  doors,  or  under  the  green  trees  of 
the  forest  with  the  children.  Satan,  however,  says  the 
Chassid,  is  more  afraid  of  these  innocent  exercises  than 
of  all  the  controversies  in  the  Meheram  Shiff.11  It  was 
through  external  nature,  the  woods  of  his  childhood,  the 
hills  and  wild  ravines  of  the  Carpathians  where  he  passed 
many  of  his  maturer  years,  that  Baalshem,  according  to 
his  disciples,  reached  his  spiritual  confirmation.  The 
Chassidic  hero  had  no  celebrated  Rabbi  for  his  master. 
He  was  his  own  teacher.  If  not  self-taught,  it  was  from 
angelic  lips,  or  even  the  Divine  voice  itself,  that  he  learned 
the  higher  knowledge.  From  the  source  whence  the 
Torah  flowed  Baalshem  received  heavenly  lore.  His 
method  of  self-education,  his  ways  of  life,  his  choice  of  as- 
sociates were  all  instances  of  revolt ;  not  only  did  he  teach 
a  wholly  different  theory  and  practice,  but  he  and  his  dis- 
ciples seem  to  have  missed  no  opportunity  of  denouncing 
the  old  teachers  as  misleading  and  ungodly.  Among  the 
many  anecdotes  illustrating  this  feature,  it  is  told  how 
once,  on  the  evening  before  the  great  Day  of  Atonement, 


THE    CHASSIDIM  if 

Baalshem  was  noticed  by  his  disciples  to  be,  contrary  to 
his  usual  custom,  depressed  and  ill  at  ease.  The  whole 
subsequent  day  he  passed  in  violent  weeping  and  lamen- 
tations. At  its  close  he  once  more  resumed  his  wonted 
cheerfulness  of  manner.  When  asked  for  the  explanation 
of  his  behaviour,  he  replied  that  the  Holy  Spirit  had  re- 
vealed to  him  that  heavy  accusations  were  being  made 
against  the  Jewish  people,  and  a  heavy  punishment  had 
been  ordained  upon  them.  The  anger  of  heaven  was 
caused  by  the  Rabbis,  whose  sole  occupation  was  to  invent 
lying  premisses  and  to  draw  from  them  false  conclusions. 
All  the  truly  wise  Rabbis  of  the  olden  time  (such  as  the 
Tannaim,  the  Amoraim 12  and  their  followers,  whom  Baal- 
shem regarded  as  so  many  saints  and  prophets)  had  now 
stood  forth  as  the  accusers  of  their  modern  successors  by 
whom  their  words  were  so  grossly  perverted  from  their  origi- 
nal meaning.  On  this  account  Baalshem's  tears  had  been 
shed,  and  his  prayers  as  usual  had  been  successful.  The 
impending  judgment  was  annulled.  On  another  occasion, 
when  he  overheard  the  sounds  of  eager,  loud  discussion 
issuing  from  a  Rabbinical  college,  Baalshem,  closing  his 
ears  with  his  hands,  declared  that  it  was  such  disputants 
who  delayed  the  redemption  of  Israel  from  captivity. 
Satan,  he  said,  incites  the  Rabbis  to  study  those  portions 
of  Jewish  literature  only  on  which  they  can  whet  the  sharp- 
ness of  their  intellects,  but  from  all  writings  of  which  the 
reading  would  promote  piety  and  the  fear  of  God  he 
keeps  them  away.  "Where  there  is  much  study,"  says 
a  disciple  of  Baalshem,  "there  is  little  piety."  "Jewish 
Devils"13  is  one  of  the  numerous  polite  epithets  applied 
to  the  Rabbis  by  the  friends  of  Baalshem.  "  Even  the 
worst  sinners  are  better  than  they;  so  blind  are  they  in 
c 


iS  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

the  arrogance  of  their  self-conceit  that  their  very  devotion 
to  the  Law  becomes  a  vehicle  for  their  sin."  It  will  be 
found  when  we  deal  with  the  most  positive  side  of  Baal- 
shem's  teaching  that  this  antagonism  to  the  attitude  and 
methods  of  the  contemporary  Rabbis  is  further  empha- 
sised, and  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  his  whole  scheme 
of  religion  and  of  conduct  in  relation  to  God  and  man 
rendered  this  acknowledged  hostility  inevitable.  In  ap- 
proaching this  part  of  our  subject  it  should  be  remembered 
that,  as  stated  above,  Baalshem  himself  wrote  nothing. 
For  a  knowledge  of  his  sayings  we  are  therefore  depend- 
ent on  the  reports  of  his  friends  and  disciples.  And  it  is 
not  unfrequently  necessary  to  supplement  these  by  the 
teaching  of  his  followers,  whom  we  may  suppose  in  large 
measure  to  have  caught  the  spirit  of  their  master.  Un- 
fortunately the  original  authorities  are  in  a  difficult  He- 
brew patois  which  often  obscures  the  precise  meaning  of 
whole  passages. 

The  originality  of  Baalshem's  teaching  has  been  fre- 
quently impugned,  chiefly  by  the  suggestion  that  he  drew 
largely  from  the  Zohar  (Book  of  Brightness).14  This 
mystical  book,  "the  Bible  of  the  Cabbalists,"  whether  we 
regard  its  subject-matter  or  its  history  and  influence,  is 
unique  in  literature.  Its  pretended  author  is  Simeon  ben 
Yochai,  a  great  Rabbi  of  the  second  century,  but  the  real 
writer  is  probably  one  Moses  de  Leon,  a  Spanish  Jew,  who 
lived  eleven  centuries  later.  The  book  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  literary  forgeries,  and  is  a  marvellous  mixture 
of  good  and  evil.  A  passage  of  delicate  religious  fancy 
is  succeeded  by  another  of  gross  obscenity  in  illustration 
and  suggestion ;  true  piety  and  wild  blasphemy  are 
strangely  mingled  together.  Baalshem  undoubtedly  had 


THE    CHASSIDIM  jg 

studied  the  Zohar,  and  he  even  is  reported  to  have  said 
that  the  reading  of  the  Zohar  had  enabled  him  to  see  into 
the  whole  universe  of  things.  But,  for  all  that,  Baalshem 
was  no  copyist ;  and  the  Zohar,  although  it  may  have 
suggested  a  hint  to  him  here  and  there,  was  not  the  source 
whence  his  inspiration  was  drawn. 

Its  attraction  for  Baalshem  is  sufficiently  explained  by 
the  fantastic,  imaginative,  and  emotional  nature  of  its 
contents.  It  lent  itself  more  easily  than  the  older  Rab- 
binical literature  to  new  explanations  unthought  of  by  its 
author.  But  even  the  Talmud  and  its  early  commentaries 
became  apocalyptic  to  the  heroes  of  Chassidism.  Nay, 
the  driest  and  most  legal  disquisitions  about  meum  and 
tuum  could  be  translated  into  parables  and  allegories 
and  symbols  full  of  the  most  exalted  meanings.  Baal- 
shem, like  every  other  religious  reformer,  was  partially 
the  product  of  his  age.  The  influences  of  the  past,  the 
history  and  literature  of  his  own  people,  helped  to  make 
him  what  he  was.  But  they  do  not  rob  him  of  his 
originality.  He  was  a  religious  revivalist  in  the  best 
sense ;  full  of  burning  faith  in  his  God  and  his  cause ; 
convinced  utterly  of  the  value  of  his  work  and  the 
truth  of  his  teaching. 

Although  there  can  be  no  real  doubt  of  Baalshem's 
claim  to  originality,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  his 
teaching  is  not  only  distinctively  Jewish,  but  that  for 
every  part  of  it  parallels  and  analogies  could  be  found 
in  the  older  Hebrew  literature.  Indeed  it  is  not  wonder- 
ful that  in  a  literature,  extending  over  2000  years,  of  a 
people  whose  chief  thoughts  have  been  religion,  and 
who  have  come  in  contact  with  so  many  external  relig- 
ious and  philosophic  influences,  the  germs  can  be  dis- 


2Q  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

covered  of  almost  every  conceivable  system,  and  the 
outline  of  almost  every  imaginable  doctrine. 

The  keynote  of  all  Baalshem's  teachings  is  the 
Omnipresence,  or  more  strictly  the  Immanence,  of  God. 
This  is  the  source  from  which  flows  naturally  every 
article  of  his  creed ;  the  universality  of  the  Divinity  is 
the  foundation  of  the  entire  Chassidic  fabric.  The 
idea  of  the  constant  living  presence  of  God  in  all  exist- 
ence permeates  the  whole  of  Baalshem's  scheme ;  it  is 
insisted  on  in  every  relation;  from  it  is  deduced  every 
important  proposition  and  every  rule  in  conduct  of  his 
school. 

All  created  things  and  every  product  of  human  intel- 
ligence owe  their  being  to  God.  All  generation  and  all 
existence  spring  from  the  thought  and  will  of  God.  It 
is  incumbent  upon  man  to  believe  that  all  things  are 
pervaded  by  the  divine  life,  and  when  he  speaks  he 
should  remember  that  it  is  this  divine  life  which  is 
speaking  through  him.  There  is  nothing  which  is  void 
of  God.  If  we  imagine  for  a  moment  such  a  thing  to 
be,  it  would  instantly  fall  into  nothingness.  In  every 
human  thought  God  is  present.  If  the  thought  be 
gross  or  evil,  we  should  seek  to  raise  and  ennoble  it  by 
carrying  it  back  to  its  origin.  So,  if  a  man  be  suddenly 
overwhelmed  by  the  aspect  of  a  beautiful  woman,  he 
should  remember  that  this  splendour  of  beauty  is  owing 
to  the  all-pervading  emanation  from  the  divine.  When 
he  remembers  that  the  source  of  corporeal  beauty  is 
God,  he  will  not  be  content  to  let  his  thought  abide 
with  the  body  when  he  can  rise  to  the  inward  contem- 
plation of  the  infinite  soul  of  beauty,  which  is  God.  A 
disciple  of  Baalshem  has  said:  Even  as  in  the  jewels 


THE    CHASSIDIM  21 

of  his  beloved  the  lover  sees  only  the  beauty  of  her  he 
loves,  so  does  the  true  lover  of  God  see  in  all  the  ap- 
pearances of  this  world,  the  vitalising  and  generative 
power  of  his  divine  master.  If  you  do  not  see  the 
world  in  the  light  of  God  you  separate  the  creation 
from  its  Creator.  He  who  does  not  fully  believe  in 
this  universality  of  God's  presence  has  never  properly 
acknowledged  God's  Sovereignty,  for  he  excludes  God 
from  an  existing  portion  of  the  actual  world.  The  word 
of  God  (to  Baalshem,  a  synonym  for  God  himself),  which 
"  is  settled  in  heaven "  and  "  established  on  earth," 
is  still  and  always  speaking,  acting,  and  generating 
throughout  heaven  and  earth  in  endless  gradations  and 
varieties.  If  the  vitalising  word  were  to  cease,  chaos 
would  come  again.  The  belief  in  a  single  creation  after 
which  the  Master  withdrew  from  his  completed  work,  is 
erroneous  and  heretical.  The  vivifying  power  is  never 
withdrawn  from  the  world  which  it  animates.  Creation 
is  continuous ;  an  unending  manifestation  of  the  good- 
ness of  God.  All  things  are  an  affluence  from  the  two 
divine  attributes  of  Power  and  Love,  which  express 
themselves  in  various  images  and  reflections. 

This  is  the  doctrine  of  universality  in  Chassidism.  God, 
the  father  of  Israel,  God  the  Merciful,  God  the  All-power- 
ful, the  God  of  Love,  not  only  created  everything  but  is 
embodied  in  everything.  The  necessity  of  believing  this 
doctrine  is  the  cardinal  Dogma.  But  as  creation  is  con- 
tinuous so  also  is  revelation.  This  revelation  is  only  to  be 
grasped  by  faith.  Faith,  therefore,  is  more  efficacious 
than  learning.  Thus  it  is  that  in  times  of  persecution,  the 
wise  and  the  foolish,  the  sinner  and  the  saint,  are  wont 
alike  to  give  up  their  life  for  their  faith.  They  who  could 


22  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

render  no  answer  to  the  questions  of  the  casuist  are  yet 
willing  to  die  the  most  cruel  of  deaths  rather  than  deny 
their  faith  in  the  One  and  Supreme  God.  Their  strength 
to  face  danger  and  death  is  owing  to  that  divine  illumina- 
tion of  the  soul  which  is  more  exalted  than  knowledge. 

We  should  thus  regard  all  things  in  the  light  of  so 
many  manifestations  of  the  Divinity.  God  is  present  in 
all  things  ;  therefore  there  is  good,  actual  or  potential,  in 
all  things.  It  is  our  duty  everywhere  to  seek  out  and  to 
honour  the  good,  and  not  to  arrogate  to  ourselves  the 
right  to  judge  that  which  may  seem  to  be  evil.  In  think- 
ing therefore  of  a  fellow-man,  we  should  above  all  things 
realise  in  him  the  presence  of  the  spirit  of  good.  Whence 
we  have  the  Doctrine  that  each  of  us,  while  thinking 
humbly  of  himself,  should  alway  be  ready  to  think  well, 
and  alway  slow  to  think  evil,  of  another.  This  explains 
the  Chassidic  attitude  towards  erring  humanity.  Baalshem 
viewed  human  sin  and  infirmity  in  a  very  different  light 
from  that  of  the  ordinary  Rabbi.  Ever  conscious  of  the 
Divine  side  of  Humanity,  he  vigorously  combated  the 
gratuitous  assumption  of  sinfulness  in  man  which  was 
a  fertile  subject  with  contemporary  preachers.  They, 
among  the  Roumanian  Jews  as  in  other  communities, 
delighted  chiefly  to  dwell  on  the  dark  side  of  things,  and 
found  their  favourite  theme  in  elaborate  descriptions  of 
the  infernal  punishments  that  were  awaiting  the  sinner 
after  death.  It  is  related  how  on  one  occasion  Baalshem 
rebuked  one  of  these.  The  preacher  had  been  denouncing 
woe  to  an  audience  of  whom  he  knew  nothing  whether  for 
evil  or  for  good.  Baalshem,  indignant  at  this  indiscrimina- 
tive  abuse  and  conceited  arrogation  of  the  divine  office  of 
judgment,  turned  on  him  in  the  following  words :  "  Woe 


THE    CH A  SSI  DIM  2$ 

upon  thee  who  darest  to  speak  evil  of  Israel !  Dost  not 
know  that  every  Jew,  when  he  utters  ever  so  short  a 
prayer  at  the  close  of  day,  is  performing  a  great  work 
before  which  the  angels  in  heaven  bow  down  ? "  Great, 
as  it  would  seem,  was  the  value  set  by  Baalshem  upon  the 
smallest  evidence  of  the  higher  nature  in  man,  and  few 
there  were,  as  he  believed,  who,  if  their  spirit  was  not 
darkened  by  pride,  did  not  now  and  again  give  proof  of 
the  divine  stamp  in  which  God  had  created  them.  No  sin 
so  separates  us  from  God  that  we  need  despair  of  return. 
From  every  rung  of  the  moral  ladder,  no  matter  how  low, 
let  man  seek  God.  If  he  but  fully  believe  that  nothing  is 
void  of  God,  and  that  God  is  concealed  in  the  midst  of 
apparent  ruin  and  degradation,  he  will  not  fear  lest  God 
be  far  from  him.  God  is  regained  in  a  moment  of  repent- 
ance, for  repentance  "  transcends  the  limits  of  space  and 
time."  And  he  who  leads  the  sinner  to  repentance  causes 
a  divine  joy ;  it  is  as  though  a  king's  son  had  been  in  cap- 
tivity and  were  now  brought  back  to  his  father's  gaze. 

Baalshem  refused  to  regard  any  one  as  wholly  irredeem- 
able. His  was  an  optimistic  faith.  God  was  to  be 
praised  in  gladness  by  the  dwellers  in  this  glorious  world. 
The  true  believer,  recognising  the  reflection  of  God  in 
every  man,  should  hopefully  strive,  when  that  reflection 
was  obscured  by  sin,  to  restore  the  likeness  of  God  in  man. 
The  peculiar  detestability  of  sin  lies  in  this,  that  man 
rejects  the  earthly  manifestations  of  the  Divinity  and 
pollutes  them.  One  of  Baalshem's  disciples  delighted  in 
the  saying  that  the  most  hardened  sinners  were  not  to  be 
despaired  of,  but  prayed  for.  None  knows  the  heart  of 
man,  and  none  should  judge  his  neighbour.  Let  him  who 
burns  with  zeal  for  God's  sake,  exercise  his  zeal  on  him- 


24  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

self,  not  others.  Baalshem  said,  "  Let  no  one  think  him- 
self better  than  his  neighbour,  for  all  serve  God;  each 
according  to  the  measure  of  understanding  which  God 
has  given  him." 

From  this  position  it  is  a  natural  step  to  Baalshem' s 
view  of  prayer.  He  is  reputed  to  have  said  that  all  the 
greatness  he  had  achieved  was  the  issue  not  of  study  but 
of  prayer.  But  true  prayer  "must  move,"  as  Baalshem 
phrased  it,  "in  the  realms  above,"  and  not  be  concerned 
with  affairs  sublunary.  Your  prayer  should  not  be  taken 
up  with  your  wishes  and  needs,  but  should  be  the  means 
to  bring  you  nigh  to  God.  In  prayer  man  must  lay  aside 
his  own  individuality,  and  not  even  be  conscious  of  his 
existence;  for  if,  when  he  prays,  Self  is  not  absolutely 
quiescent,  the  object  of  prayer  is  unattainable.  Indeed 
it  is  only  through  God's  grace  that  after  true  prayer  man 
is  yet  alive ;  to  such  a  point  has  the  annihilation  of  self 
proceeded. 

It  may  be  necessary  to  caution  the  reader  against 
ascribing  to  Baalshem  any  modern  rationalistic  notions 
on  the  subject  of  prayer.  The  power  of  prayer,  in  the 
old-fashioned  sense,  to  produce  an  answer  from  God  was 
never  doubted  by  Baalshem  for  a  moment.  Baalshem's 
deity  is  not  restricted  towards  any  side  by  any  philosophic 
considerations.  All  Baalshem  meant  was  that  any  ref- 
erence or  regard  to  earthly  requirements  was  unworthy 
and  destructive  of  this  communion  of  man  with  God. 
The  wise  man,  says  Baalshem,  does  not  trouble  the  king 
with  innumerable  petitions  about  trifles.  His  desire  is 
merely  to  gain  admission  into  the  king's  presence  and  to 
speak  with  him  without  a  go-between.  To  be  with  the 
king  whom  he  loves  so  dearly  is  for  him  the  highest  good. 


THE    CHASSIDIM  2$ 

But  his  love  for  the  king  has  its  reward;  for  the  king 
loves  him. 

It  has  already  been  implied  that,  with  regard  to  our 
duty  towards  our  fellow-man,  we  must  not  only  honour 
him  for  the  good,  and  abstain  from  judging  the  evil  that 
may  be  in  him,  but  must  pray  for  him.  Furthermore  we 
must  work  for  his  spiritual  and  moral  reclamation.  In 
giving  practical  effect  in  his  own  life  to  this  doctrine, 
Baalshem's  conduct  was  in  striking  contrast  to  that  of 
his  contemporaries.  He  habitually  consorted  with  out- 
casts and  sinners,  with  the  poor  and  uneducated  of  both 
sexes,  whom  the  other  teachers  ignored.  He  thus  won 
for  his  doctrines  a  way  to  the  heart  of  the  people  by 
adapting  his  life  and  language  to  their  understanding  and 
sympathies.  In  illustration  of  this,  as  well  as  of  his 
hatred  of  vanity  and  display,  it  is  told  how,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  his  being  accorded  a  public  reception  by  the  Jews 
on  his  arrival  at  Brody,  instead  of  addressing  to  them  in 
the  conventional  fashion  some  subtle  discourse  upon  a 
Talmudical  difficulty,  he  contented  himself  with  convers- 
ing upon  trivial  topics  in  the  local  dialect  with  some  of 
the  less  important  persons  in  the  crowd. 

This  incident  is  perhaps  the  more  noteworthy  because 
it  occurred  in  Brody,  which  was  at  that  time  a  seat  of 
learning  and  Rabbinic  culture,  —  a  place  where,  for  that 
very  reason,  Chassidism  was  never  able  to  gain  a  foothold. 
It  is  probable  enough  that  Baalshem  in  his  visits  to  this 
town  kept  aloof  from  the  learned  and  the  wise,  and  sought 
to  gather  round  him  the  neglected  and  humbler  elements 
of  Jewish  society.  It  is  well  known  that  Baalshem  con- 
sorted a  good  deal  with  the  innkeepers  of  the  district,  who 
were  held  in  very  low  repute  among  their  brethren.  The 


26  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

following  remark  by  one  of  his  followers  is  very  sug- 
gestive in  this  respect.  Just  as  only  superficial  minds 
attach  a  certain  holiness  to  special  places,  whilst  with 
the  deeper  ones  all  places  are  alike  holy,  so  that  to  them 
it  makes  no  difference  whether  prayers  be  said  in  the 
synagogue  or  in  the  forest;  so  the  latter  believe  that  not 
only  prophecies  and  visions  come  from  heaven,  but  that 
every  utterance  of  man,  if  properly  understood,  contains 
a  message  of  God.  Those  who  are  absorbed  in  God  will 
easily  find  the  divine  element  in  everything  which  they 
hear,  even  though  the  speaker  himself  be  quite  ignorant 
of  it. 

This  line  of  conduct  gave  a  fair  opening  for  attack  to 
his  opponents,  an  opportunity  of  which  they  were  not 
slow  to  avail  themselves.  Baalshem  was  pointed  at  as 
the  associate  of  the  lowest  classes.  They  avenged  them- 
selves for  his  neglect  of  and  hostility  to  the  learned  by 
imputing  the  worst  motives  to  his  indifference  to  appear- 
ances. He  was  accused  of  idling  about  the  streets  with 
disreputable  characters,  and  one  polemical  treatise  draws 
the  vilest  inferences  from  his  apparent  familiarity  with 
women.  To  this  charge  Baalshem's  conduct,  innocent  in 
itself,  gave  some  colour;  for  his  views  and  habits  in  re- 
lation to  women  marked  a  strong  divergence  from  current 
customs.  The  position  of  women  in  contemporary  circles 
was  neither  debased  nor  inevitably  unhappy,  but  it  was 
distinctly  subordinate.  Their  education  was  almost  en- 
tirely neglected,  and  their  very  existence  was  practically 
ignored.  According  to  the  Chassidic  doctrine  of  Uni- 
versality, woman  was  necessarily  to  be  honoured.  "All 
Jews,"  says  one  Chassid,  "even  the  uneducated  and  the 
women,  believe  in  God."  Baalshem  frequently  associated 


THE    CHASSIDIM  2/ 

with  women,  assigning  to  them  not  only  social  equality, 
but  a  high  degree  of  religious  importance. 

His  own  wife  he  reverenced  as  a  saint ;  when  she  died 
he  abandoned  the  hope  of  rising  to  heaven  while  yet  alive, 
like  Elijah  of  old,  saying  mournfully  that  undivided  such 
translation  might  have  happened,  but  for  him  alone  it 
was  impossible.  Then  again  in  a  form  of  religion  utilis- 
ing so  largely  the  emotions  of  Faith  and  Love  there  was 
a  strong  appeal  to  the  female  mind.  The  effect  of  this 
was  soon  evident,  and  Baalshem  did  not  neglect  to  profit 
by  it.  Among  the  most  devoted  of  his  early  adherents 
were  women.  One  of  them  was  the  heroine  of  a  favourite 
anecdote  concerning  Baalshem's  work  of  Love  and  Res- 
cue. It  is  related  that  in  a  certain  village  there  dwelt 
a  woman  whose  life  was  so  disgraceful  that  her  brothers 
at  last  determined  to  kill  her.  With  this  object  they 
enticed  her  into  a  neighbouring  wood,  but  guided  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  Baalshem  intervened  at  the  critical  moment, 
and  dissuading  the  men  from  their  purpose  rescued  the 
sinner.  The  woman  afterwards  became  a  sort  of  Mag- 
dalen in  the  new  community. 

Above  I  have  endeavoured  to  throw  together  in  some 
order  of  sequence  the  doctrines  and  practical  rules  of  con- 
duct which  Baalshem  and  his  early  disciples  seem  to  have 
deduced  from  their  central  idea  of  the  omnipresence  of 
God.  This  was  necessary  in  order  to  give  a  connected 
idea  of  their  creed,  but  it  is  right  to  say  that  nowhere  in 
Chassidic  literature  have  these  deductions  been  logically 
co-ordinated.  Perhaps  their  solitary  attempt  to  formulate 
and  condense  their  distinctive  views  is  confined  to  a  state- 
ment of  their  idea  of  piety  or  service  of  God,  and  an  exam- 
ination of  three  cardinal  virtues,  Humility,  Cheerfulness, 


28  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

and  Enthusiasm.  What  the  Chassidim  held  as  to  true 
service  brings  into  relief  Baalshem's  characteristic  manner 
of  regarding  the  Law. 

By  the  service  of  God  was  generally  understood  a  life 
which  fulfilled  the  precepts  of  the  written  and  oral  law. 
Baalshem  understood  by  it  a  certain  attitude  towards  life 
as  a  whole.  For,  as  God  is  realised  in  life,  each  activity 
of  life  when  rightly  conceived  and  executed  is  at  once  a 
manifestation  and  a  service  of  the  Divine.  All  things 
have  been  created  for  the  glory  and  service  of  God.  The 
smallest  worm  serves  Him  with  all  its  power.  Thus, 
while  eating,  drinking,  sleeping,  and  the  other  ordinary 
functions  of  the  body  are  regarded  by  the  old  Jewish  mor- 
alists as  mere  means  to  an  end,  to  Baalshem  they  are 
already  a  service  of  God  in  themselves.  All  pleasures  are 
manifestations  of  God's  attribute  of  love ;  and,  so  regarded, 
they  are  at  once  spiritualised  and  ennobled.  Man  should 
seek  to  reach  a  higher  level  of  purity  and  holiness  before 
partaking  of  food  and  drink,  than  even  before  the  study 
of  the  Law.  For  when  the  Torah  had  once  been  given 
by  God  the  whole  world  became  instinct  with  its  grace. 
He  who  speaks  of  worldly  matters  and  religious  matters 
as  if  they  were  separate  and  distinct,  is  a  heretic. 

Upon  the  continual  and  uninterrupted  study  of  the 
Law,  Baalshem  lays  but  little  stress.  He  accepted  the 
ordinary  belief  that  the  Law  (under  which  term  are 
included  not  only  the  Pentateuch,  but  the  whole  Old  Tes- 
tament and  the  major  portion  of  the  old  Rabbinic  litera- 
ture) was  a  revelation  of  God.  But,  as  the  world  itself  is 
equally  a  divine  revelation,  the  Torah  becomes  little  more 
than  a  part  of  a  larger  whole.  To  understand  it  aright 
one  needs  to  penetrate  to  the  inward  reality — to  the  infi- 


THE    CH A  SSI  DIM 


29 


nite  light  which  is  revealed  in  it.  We  should  study  the 
Law  not  as  we  study  a  science  for  the  sake  of  acquiring 
knowledge  (he  who  studies  it  so  has  in  truth  been  con- 
cerning himself  with  its  mere  outward  form),  but  we 
should  learn  from  it  the  true  service  of  God.  Thus  the 
study  of  the  law  is  no  end  in  itself.  It  is  studied  because, 
as  the  word  of  God,  God  is  more  easily  discerned  and 
absorbed  in  this  revelation  of  Him  than  in  any  other. 
The  Torah  is  eternal,  but  its  explanation  is  to  be  made  by 
the  spiritual  leaders  of  Judaism.  It  is  to  be  interpreted 
by  them  in  accordance  with  the  Attribute  of  the  age. 
For  he  regarded  the  world  as  governed  in  every  age  by  a 
different  Attribute  of  God  —  one  age  by  the  Attribute  of 
Lov"e,  another  by  that  of  Power,  a  third  again,  by  Beauty, 
and  so  on  —  and  the  explanation  of  the  Torah  must  be 
brought  into  agreement  with  it.  The  object  of  the  whole 
Torah  is  that  man  should  become  a  Torah  himself.  Every 
man  being  a  Torah  in  himself,  said  a  disciple  of  Baalshem, 
has  got  not  only  his  Abraham  and  Moses,  but  also  his 
Balaam  and  Haman :  he  should  try  to  expel  the  Balaam 
and  develop  the  Abraham  within  him.  Every  action  of 
man  should  be  a  pure  manifestation  of  God. 

The  reason  why  we  should  do  what  the  Law  commands 
is  not  to  gain  grace  thereby  in  the  eyes  of  God,  but  to 
learn  how  to  love  God  and  to  be  united  to  Him.  The 
important  thing  is  not  how  many  separate  injunctions  are 
obeyed,  but  how  and  in  what  spirit  we  obey  them.  The 
object  of  fulfilling  these  various  ordinances  is  to  put  one- 
self, as  it  were,  on  the  same  plane  with  God,  and  thus,  in 
the  ordinary  phrase  of  the  religious  mystic,  to  become  one 
with  Him,  or  to  be  absorbed  in  Him.  People  should  get 
to  know,  says  Baalshem,  what  the  unity  of  God  really 


30  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

means.  To  attain  a  part  of  this  indivisible  unity  is  to 
attain  the  whole.  The  Torah  and  all  its  ordinances  are 
from  God.  If  I  therefore  fulfil  but  one  commandment  in 
and  through  the  love  of  God,  it  is  as  though  I  have  ful- 
filled them  all. 

I  have  now  briefly  to  refer  to  the  three  virtues  to  which 
the  Chassidim  assigned  the  highest  place  of  honour.  Of 
these  the  first  is  called  in  Hebrew  "  Shiphluth,"  15  and  is 
best  rendered  by  our  word  "Humility,"  but  in  Chassidic 
usage  it  includes  the  ideas  of  modesty,  considerateness, 
and  sympathy.  The  prominence  given  to  these  qualities 
is  in  sharp  contrast  to  the  faults  of  conceit,  vanity,  and 
self-satisfaction,  against  which  Baalshem  was  never  weary 
of  protesting.  He  regarded  these  as  the  most  seductive 
of  all  forms  of  sin.  But  a  few  minutes  before  his  death 
he  was  heard  to  murmur,  "  O  vanity,  vanity !  even  in  this 
hour  of  death  thou  darest  to  approach  me  with  thy  temp- 
tations :  '  Bethink  thee,  Israel,  what  a  grand  funeral  pro- 
cession will  be  thine  because  thou  hast  been  so  wise  and 
good.'  O  vanity,  vanity !  beshrew  thee."  "It  should  be 
.indifferent  to  man,"  says  the  master,  " whether  he  be 
praised  or  blamed,  loved  or  hated,  reputed  to  be  the  wisest 
of  mankind  or  the  greatest  of  fools.  The  test  of  the  real 
service  of  God  is  that  it  leaves  behind  it  the  feeling  of 
humility.  If  a  man  after  prayer  be  conscious  of  the  least 
pride  or  self-satisfaction,  if  he  think,  for  instance,  that  he 
has  earned  a  reward  by  the  ardour  of  his  spiritual  exer- 
cises, then  let  him  know  that  he  has  prayed  not  to  God 
but  to  himself.  And  what  is  this  but  disguised  idolatry  ? 
Before  you  can  find  God  you  must  lose  yourself."  The 
Chassidim  treated  Shiphluth  from  two  sides:  a  negative 
side  in  thinking  humbly  of  oneself,  a  positive  in  thinking 


THE    CHASSIDIM  3! 

highly  of  one's  neighbour,  in  other  words  the  love  for  our 
fellow-man. 

He  who  loves  the  father  will  also  love  his  children. 
The  true  lover  of  God  is  also  a  lover  of  man.  It  is  igno- 
rance of  one's  own  errors  that  makes  one  ready  to  see  the 
errors  of  others.  "  There  is  no  sphere  in  heaven  where 
the  soul  remains  a  shorter  time  than  in  the  sphere  of 
merit,  there  is  none  where  it  abides  longer  than  in  the 
sphere  of  Love." 

The  second  Cardinal  Virtue  is  "  Cheerfulness,"  in  He- 
brew "Simchah."16  Baalshem  insisted  on  cheerfulness  of 
heart  as  a  necessary  attitude  for  the  due  service  of  God. 
Once  believe  that  you  are  really  the  servant  and  the  child 
of  God  and  how  can  you  fall  again  into  a  gloomy  condition 
of  mind  ?  Nor  should  the  inevitable  sins  which  we  all 
must  commit  disturb  our  glad  serenity  of  soul.  For  is  not 
repentance  ready  at  hand  by  which  we  may  climb  back  to 
God  ?  Every  penitent  thought  is  a  voice  of  God.  Man 
should  detect  that  voice  in  all  the  evidence  of  his  senses, 
in  every  sight  and  sound  of  external  nature.  It  is  through 
his  want  of  faith  in  the  universality  of  God's  presence  that 
he  is  deaf  to  these  subtle  influences  and  can  read  only 
the  lessons  which  are  inscribed  in  books. 

The  reader  will  be  prepared  to  learn  that  Baalshem, 
taking  this  cheerful  view  of  things,  was  opposed  to  every 
kind  of  asceticism.  Judaism,  or  rather  Israelitism,  it  is 
true,  was  not  originally  much  of  an  ascetic  religion.  But 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  in  the  course  of  history  there 
came  in  many  ascetic  doctrines  and  practices,  quite  enough 
at  least  to  encourage  such  tender  souls  the  bent  of  whose 
minds  lay  in  this  direction.  To  one  of  these,  a  former 
disciple,  Baalshem  wrote  :  "  I  hear  that  you  think  yourself 


32  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

compelled  from  religious  motives  to  enter  upon  a  course 
of  fasts  and  penances.  My  soul  is  outraged  at  your  deter- 
mination. By  the  counsel  of  God  I  order  you  to  abandon 
such  dangerous  practices,  which  are  but  the  outcome  of  a 
disordered  brain.  Is  it  not  written  '  Thou  shalt  not  hide 
thyself  from  thine  own  flesh  ? '  Fast  then  no  more  than 
is  prescribed.  Follow  my  command  and  God  shall  be 
with  you."  On  another  occasion  Baalshem  was  heard  to 
observe  that  it  is  a  machination  of  Satan  to  drive  us  into 
a  condition  of  gloom  and  despondency  in  which  the  small- 
est error  is  regarded  as  a  deadly  sin.  Satan's  object  is  to 
keep  us  away  from  the  true  service  of  God,  and  God  can 
only  be  truly  served  from  a  happy  and  confident  disposi- 
tion. Anxious  scrupulosity  in  details  is  therefore  to  be 
avoided.  It  is  the  counsel  of  the  Devil  to  persuade  us 
that  we  never  have  done  and  shall  never  do  our  duty 
fully,  and  that  moral  progress  is  impossible.  Such  ideas 
beget  melancholy  and  despair,  which  are  of  evil. 

The  third  virtue  is  called  in  the  Hebrew  Chassidic 
literature  "  Hithlahabuth,"  17  and  is  derived  from  a  verb 
meaning  "  to  kindle  "  or  "  set  on  fire."  The  substantive 
"  Hithlahabuth,"  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  was  first  coined  by 
Baalshem's  followers.  It  is  best  rendered  by  our  word 
"  Enthusiasm."  Every  religious  action,  to  be  of  any 
avail,  must  be  done  with  enthusiasm.  A  mere  mechanical 
and  lifeless  performance  of  an  ordinance  is  valueless.  A 
man  is  no  step  nearer  the  goal  if  he  thinks,  forsooth,  that 
he  has  done  his  duty  when  he  has  gone  through  the  whole 
round  of  laws  in  every  section  of  the  code.  This  essential 
enthusiasm  is  only  begotten  of  Love.  The  service  of 
fear,  if  not  wholly  useless,  is  yet  necessarily  accompanied 
by  a  certain  repulsion  and  heaviness,  which  effectually 


THE   CHASSIDIM  33 

prevent  the  rush  and  ardour  of  enthusiasm.  The  inspira- 
tion of  true  service  is  its  own  end.  There  is  no  thought 
of  this  world,  and  there  is  none  of  the  world  to  come. 
In  the  Talmud  there  is  frequent  reference  to  one  Rabbi 
Elisha  ben  Abuyah,  an  apostate  from  Judaism,  who,  when 
urged  to  repent,  replied  that  repentance  was  useless,  and 
that  for  this  mournful  belief  he  had  direct  divine  authority. 
For  he  had  been  told  by  a  voice  from  heaven  that  even 
though  he  repented  he  would  be  excluded  from  sharing 
the  happiness  of  the  world  to  come.  Of  him  it  was  said  by 
one  of  the  Chassidim,  "  This  man  indeed  missed  a  golden 
opportunity.  How  purely  could  he  have  served  God,  know- 
ing that  for  his  service  there  could  never  be  a  reward !  " 

From  the  conception  of  Enthusiasm  springs  the  quality 
of  mobility,  suggesting  spiritual  progress,  and  commonly 
opposed  by  Baalshem  and  his  followers  t  to  the  dull  re- 
ligious stagnation  of  self-satisfied  contemporaries.  Man 
should  not  imagine  himself  to  have  attained  the  level  of 
the  righteous ;  let  him  rather  regard  himself  as  a  penitent 
who  should  make  progress  every  day.  Always  to  remain 
on  the  same  religious  plane,  merely  repeating  to-day  the 
religious  routine  of  yesterday,  is  not  true  service.  There 
must  be  a  daily  advance  in  the  knowledge  and  love  of  the 
Divine  Master.  Mere  freedom  from  active  sin  is  not 
sufficient ;  such  negative  virtue  may  be  but  another  word 
for  the  chance  absence  of  temptation.  What  boots  it 
never  to  have  committed  a  sin  if  sin  lies  concealed  in  the 
heart?  It  is  only  the  uninterrupted  communion  with 
God  which  will  raise  and  ennoble  your  thoughts  and 
designs,  and  cause  the  roots  of  sin  to  die.  The  patriarch 
Abraham,  without  any  command  from  God,  fulfilled  the 
whole  Torah,  because  he  perceived  that  the  Law  was  the 
D 


34  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

life  of  all  created  things.  In  the  Messianic  age  the  law 
will  no  longer  seem  to  man  as  something  ordained  for  him 
from  without;  but  the  law  will  be  within  the  hearts  of 
men ;  it  will  seem  natural  and  self-evident  to  them, 
because  they  will  realise  that  God  and  life  are  manifested 
through  the  law. 

Baalshem,  who  dealt  largely  in  parable,  has  left  the 
following,  which  we  may  fitly  add  to  our  somewhat 
inadequate  presentation  of  his  doctrine. 

There  was  once  a  king  who  built  himself  a  glorious 
palace.  By  means  of  magical  illusion  it  seemed  as  if  the 
palace  v/ere  full  of  devious  corridors  and  mazes,  prevent- 
ing the  approach  to  the  royal  presence.  But  as  there  was 
much  gold  and  silver  heaped  up  in  the  entrance  halls, 
most  people  were  content  to  go  no  further,  but  take  their 
fill  of  treasure.  The  king  himself  they  did  not  notice. 
At  last  the  king's  intimate  had  compassion  upon  them 
and  exclaimed  to  them,  "  All  these  walls  and  mazes  which 
you  see  before  you  do  not  in  truth  exist  at  all.  They  are 
mere  illusions.  Push  forward  bravely,  and  you  shall  find 
no  obstacle." 

We  must  not  interpret  the  parable  to  mean  that  Baal- 
shem denied  the  reality  or  even  the  importance  of  the 
actual  phenomenal  world.  The  very  contrary  is  the  truth. 
The  world  is  for  him  full  of  God,  penetrated  through  and 
through  by  the  divine,  and  therefore  as  real  as  God  him- 
self. It  was  quite  in  Baalshem's  manner  when  one  of  his 
disciples  declared  that  only  fools  could  speak  of  the 
world  as  vanity  or  emptiness.  "  It  is  in  truth  a  glorious 
world.  We  must  only  learn  how  rightly  to  make  use  of 
it.  Call  nothing  common  or  profane :  by  God's  presence 
all  things  are  holy." 


THE   CHASSIDIM  35 

Above  we  have  reviewed  the  essential  doctrines  of 
Baalshem  and  his  immediate  followers ;  we  have  now  to 
see  how  they  fared  at  the  hands  of  the  sect  which  he 
founded.  This  is  a  sad  part  of  our  task,  for  the  sub- 
sequent history  of  Chassidism  is  almost  entirely  a  record 
of  decay.  As  formulated  by  its  founder  the  new  creed 
amounted  to  a  genuine  Reformation,  pure  and  lofty  in 
ideal.  After  his  death  unhappily  it  was  rapidly  corrupted 
and  perverted.  This  was  due  almost  exclusively  to  the 
dangerous  and  exaggerated  development  of  a  single  point 
in  his  teaching.  That  point,  the  honour  due  to  the 
divine  in  man,  w,as  relatively  a  minor  article  in  the  original 
creed.  But  the  later  Chassidism  has  given  it  a  distorted 
and  almost  exclusive  importance  wholly  out  of  proportion 
to  the  grander  and  more  essential  features  of  Baalshem's 
teaching,  until  the  distinctive  feature  of  the  Chassidism 
of  to-day  is  an  almost  idolatrous  service  of  their  living 
leaders.  What  little  there  is  to  say  of  the  history  of  the 
sect  after  Baalshem's  death  would  be  unintelligible  with- 
out some  explanation  of  the  origin  and  growth  of  this 
unfortunate  perversion. 

It  has  been  explained  that  Baalshem  laid  but  little  stress 
upon  the  study  of  the  Law  or  the  observance  of  its  pre- 
cepts in  themselves,  but  regarded  them  only  as  means  to 
an  end.  The  end  is  union  with  God.  Man  has  to  discover 
the  presence  of  God  in  the  Divine  word  and  will.  Now 
this  mystical  service  of  God,  although  perhaps  sufficing  to 
sensitive  and  enthusiastic  natures,  is  scarcely  plain  or  defi- 
nite enough  for  ordinary  men.  Few  can  realise  abstrac- 
tions :  and  yet  fewer  can  delight  in  them  and  find  in  their 
contemplation  sufficient  nurture  for  their  religious  needs. 
What  then  had  Chassidism  to  offer  to  the  ordinary  major- 


36  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

ity  who  could  not  recognise  God  in  all  the  plenitude  of 
His  disguise  ?  The  want  of  something  tangible  whereon  to 
fix  the  minds  of  the  people,  which  has  confronted  the 
teachers  of  so  many  creeds,  was  also  encountered  by  the 
Chassidim,  and  they  unfortunately  found  their  way  out  of 
the  difficulty  by  relying  on  and  developing  their  doctrine 
of  man's  position  in  the  Universe.  Man's  ideal  is  to  be  a 
law  himself ;  himself  a  clear  and  full  manifestation  of  God. 
Now,  not  only  is  he  God's  servant  and  child,  but  in  high- 
est development  he  becomes  himself  a  part  of  God,  albeit 
in  human  shape,  so  that  he  may  become  wholly  one  with 
his  divine  Father.  But  if  man  may  reach  this  highest 
level  of  holiness,  he  is  virtually  a  kind  of  God-man,  whom 
his  fellow-men  of  lower  levels  perceive  by  reason  of  his 
manhood,  but  his  essential  office  consists  in  raising  them 
up  to  God  by  reason  of  his  Divinity. 

The  few  chosen  spirits  who  through  the  successful  per- 
sistency with  which  they  have  sought  God  in  all  things  have 
become,  though  yet  on  earth,  absorbed  in  Him,  are  known 
in  Chassidic  literature  by  the  name  of  the  "Zaddikim." 
The  Hebrew  word  Zaddik 18 means  "just"  or  "righteous," 
and  the  term  was  probably  chosen  in  conscious  opposition 
to  the  title  of  Rabbinic  heroes,  "disciples  of  the  wise." 
For  the  Zaddik  is  not  so  much  the  product  of  learning 
as  of  intuition :  his  final  consummation  is  reached  by  a 
sudden  and  direct  illumination  from  God.  The  Zaddik 
not  only  resembles  Moses,  but,  in  virtue  of  his  long 
communion  with  the  Divine,  he  is  also  the  true  child  of 
God.  He  is,  moreover,  a  vivifying  power  in  creation, 
for  he  is  the  connecting  bond  between  God  and  his 
creatures.  He  is  the  source  of  blessing  and  the  fount 
of  grace.  Man  must  therefore  learn  to  love  the  Zaddik, 


THE    CH A  SSI  DIM  37 

so  that  through  the  Zaddik  he  may  win  God's  grace. 
He  who  does  not  believe  in  the  Zaddik  is  an  apostate 
from  God.  Here  then  we  have  the  fatal  exaggeration 
to  which  I  have  alluded,  and  here  its  logical  conse- 
quence. The  step  to  man-worship  is  short. 

This  peculiar  doctrine  of  the  Intermediary  soon  became 
the  distinguishing  feature  of  Chassidism.  By  a  Chassid 
was  understood  not  a  man  who  held  such  and  such  opin- 
ions in  theology  and  religion,  but  a  believer  in  the  Zaddik, 
and  one  who  sought  to  attain  salvation  through  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Zaddik.  Every  other  doctrine  of  Chassidism 
was  rapidly  pushed  into  the  background  and  overlooked. 
Even  the  grand  and  fundamental  doctrine  of  Omnipres- 
ence in  the  Creation  was  veiled  by  the  special  presence  in 
the  Zaddik.  Chassidism  became  mere  Zaddikism,  and  its 
subsequent  history  is  identical  with  the  downward  develop- 
ment of  that  cult. 

Whether  Baalshem  named  his  successor  is  doubtful. 
But  the  lead  after  his  death  was  assumed  by  his  disciple 
Beer  of  Mizriez.  This  man's  conversion  to  Chassidism 
was  an  important  event  for  the  new  community  ;  his  piety 
and  learning  were  beyond  dispute,  and,  whereas  during 
Baalshem's  life  Chassidism  had  found  its  chief  adherents 
among  the  lower  classes  of  society,  Beer  managed  to 
gather  round  him  many  of  the  most  learned  among  his 
contemporaries.  It  was  to  these  new  and  ardent  disciples 
of  Beer  that  the  expansion  of  Chassidism  was  chiefly  due. 
They  came  together  from  many  quarters,  and  after  Beer's 
death  separated  and  preached  the  new  doctrine  far  and 
wide.  Many  even  went  forth  during  the  lifetime  of  their 
master,  and  at  his  command,  to  found  fresh  branches  of 
the  new  sect.  Like  Beer  himself,  they  directed  their  ef- 


38  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

forts  mainly  to  winning  over  the  educated  sections  of 
the  Jews.  The  elder  men  paid  little  heed  to  their  word, 
but  the  youths,  just  fresh  from  their  casuistic  studies, 
which  had  sharpened  their  wits  and  starved  their  souls, 
lent  a  ready  ear  and  an  eager  heart  to  the  new  doc- 
trine. The  uneducated  were  by  no  means  excluded ;  to 
them  Chassidism  held  out  a  deeper  consolation  and  a 
grander  hope  than  the  current  Rabbinism  of  the  age ; 
they  therefore  joined  the  young  community  in  large  num- 
bers without  any  special  effort  being  necessary  to  gain 
them  over. 

In  their  methods  of  Prayer  the  Chassidim  most  conspic- 
uously differed  from  the  older  communities.  Laying  as 
they  did  supreme  stress  on  the  importance  and  efficacy  of 
prayer,  they  soon  found  it  necessary  to  secede  from  the  ex- 
isting synagogues  and  erect  separate  buildings  for  them- 
selves. The  usual  salaried  Reader  "  with  'the  beautiful 
voice  and  empty  head,"  who  naturally  regarded  his  func- 
tion as  a  matter  of  business,  was  done  away  with  and  his 
place  taken  either  by  the  Zaddik  himself  or  by  some  other 
distinguished  person  in  the  community.  The  Chassidim 
also  effected  many  changes  in  the  liturgy.  Instead  of  the 
German  they  adopted  the  Spanish  ritual.  They  excised 
many  prayers  which,  lacking  the  authority  of  antiquity, 
were  cumbrous  in  form  or  objectionable  in  matter.  They 
inserted  new  prayers  and  hymns  of  their  own.  They  paid 
little  regard  to  the  prescribed  hours  at  which  public  wor- 
ship should  be  held.  Prayer  began  when  they  had  got 
themselves  into  the  proper  devotional  frame  of  mind. 
Frequent  ablutions,  perusal  of  mystical  writings,  intro- 
spective meditation  were  the  means  by  which  they  sought 
to  gain  the  befitting  mood.  The  prayers  themselves  were 


THE    CHASSIDIM 


39 


accompanied  by  the  usual  phenomena  of  religious  excite- 
ment. Some  in  the  zeal  of  their  devotion  began  to  dance ; 
others  were  rapt  in  a  motionless  ecstasy;  some  prayed 
aloud ;  others  in  solemn  silence.  They  justified  their 
abrogation  of  fixed  hours  for  prayer  by  saying  that  you 
cannot  order  a  child  when  to  speak  with  its  father :  such 
restraint  were  fit  only  for  slaves. 

As  a  rule  the  larger  number  of  the  younger  Chassidim 
were  able  to  devote  their  whole  time  to  religious  exercises. 
It  was  the  custom  among  the  Jews  in  Eastern  Europe  for 
the  young  men  to  live  at  the  expense  of  their  own  or  their 
wives'  parents,  in  order  that  they  might  give  themselves 
up  entirely  to  religious  study.  According  to  the  old 
notions,  this  meant  the  study  of  the  Talmud  and  its  Com- 
mentaries ;  the  Chassidim  who  cared  little  for  the  legal 
side  of  Jewish  literature  betook  themselves  to  the  litera- 
ture of  edification  and  mysticism.  No  small  part  of  their 
time  was  taken  up  with  endless  conversations  about  the 
Zaddik,  his  piety,  goodness,  and  self-sacrifice  and  the  won- 
derful miracles  which  he  had  wrought.  If  a  Zaddik  was 
living  in  his  own  town,  the  youthful  Chassid  spent  as 
many  hours  as  he  could  in  the  Zaddik's  company,  in  order 
to  observe  and  study  this  embodied  Torah  as  constantly 
as  possible.  Where  no  Zaddik  was  at  hand,  periodical 
pilgrimages  were  made  to  the  town  in  which  he  lived,  and 
endless  were  the  tales  which  were  afterwards  repeated,  to 
those  who  were  obliged  to  stay  at  home,  of  the  Zaddik's 
marvellous  wisdom  and  extraordinary  deeds.  The  last 
hours  of  the  Sabbath  day  were  looked  upon  as  a  special 
season  of  grace,  and  the  Chassidim  were  therefore  in  the 
habit  of  collecting  together  in  the  waning  of  the  Sabbath 
and  celebrating  the  so-called  "  Supper  of  the  Holy  Queen." 


40  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

The  meal  was  accompanied  by  the  usual  conversations  as 
well  as  by  hymns  and  prayers. 

The  Chassidim  were  second  to  no  other  sect  in  their 
loyalty  and  affection  for  each  other.  No  sacrifice  for  a 
brother  Chassid  was  too  great.  They  knew  no  difference 
of  rich  and  poor,  old  and  young,  wise  and  ignorant ;  for 
they  all,  with  one  accord,  worshipped  one  common  ideal, 
the  Zaddik,  who  in  his  exalted  position  was  equally  raised 
above  them  all.  Before  him  all  minor  differences  of  rank 
disappeared.  When  a  Chassid  travelled,  he  had  no  scruple 
in  asking  for  lodging  or  entertainment  in  the  house  of  any 
Chassid  who  could  afford  to  give  them.  If  he  was  in 
money  difficulties  the  purse  of  his  host  was  at  his  dis- 
posal. If  that  was  not  sufficient,  it  was  supplemented  by 
a  grant  from  the  fund  of  the  community.  These  gifts 
were  not  looked  upon  in  the  light  of  charity  either  by 
giver  or  receiver;  they  were  made  to  the  Zaddik,  to  whom 
all  Chassidim  alike  were  debtors.  It  sometimes  even 
happened  that  a  Zaddik  said  that  the  son  of  some  rich 
merchant  was  to  marry  the  daughter  of  a  poor  school- 
master, and  both  parties  were  equally  delighted  to  fulfil 
the  wish  of  their  beloved  chief. 

It  may  easily  be  imagined  that  the  innovations  of  the 
Chassidim  provoked  the  wrath  of  the  orthodox  communi- 
ties. But  in  their  detestation  of  the  Rabbis  the  Chassidim 
returned  in  full  measure  all  the  hatred  they  received. 
The  Zaddik  is  the  Moses  of  his  age :  the  Rabbis  its  Korah 
and  Abiram.  Where  the  Chassidic  party  in  any  commu- 
nity gained  the  upper  hand,  the  Rabbi  was  deposed  and  a 
Zaddik,  if  that  was  possible,  elected  in  his  place.  The 
issue  of  these  bitter  attacks  upon  the  old  nobility  of  the 
Jewish  race  was  a  rigorous  persecution.  In  many  places 


THE    CHASSIDIM  4I 

the  Chassidim  were  excommunicated,  in  others  their 
leaders  were  publicly  scourged  and  put  into  the  stocks. 
Their  books  were  burnt  and  their  synagogues  forcibly 
closed.  But  persecution  produced  only  the  usual  result  of 
increasing  the  popularity  and  the  numbers  of  the  sect. 
The  devotion  of  the  Chassidim  to  each  other  and  to  their 
common  cause  was  increased  a  hundred-fold  by  suffering. 
In  one  case  a  distinguished  Zaddik  was  accused  of  trea- 
son, before  the  Russian  authorities,  and  was  thrown  into 
prison.  In  Russia,  however,  the  power  of  money  is  con- 
siderable, and  on  payment  of  a  large  ransom  not  only  was 
the  beloved  Zaddik  released  but  as  an  obvious  consequence 
his  reputation  greatly  profited :  the  day  of  his  release  was 
celebrated  as  a  yearly  festival,  while  his  sufferings  were 
regarded  by  his  followers  as  a  sin-offering  that  atoned  for 
the  iniquities  of  his  age.  From  this  time  the  government 
maintained  a  purely  neutral  attitude  towards  the  new  sect, 
and  ere  long  the  persecution  by  the  orthodox  ceased. 

The  cessation  of  persecution  may  possibly  be  accounted 
for  by  the  fact  that  Chassidism  as  a  secession  soon  ceased 
to  be  formidable.  There  were  early  divisions  within  the 
sect.  Even  Beer's  disciples  began  to  quarrel  over  theo- 
logical differences  and  to  found  separate  communities. 
When  once  the  course  of  corruption  and  spiritual  decay 
had  begun,  it  was  the  interest  of  the  false  Zaddikim  to 
accentuate  these  differences.  Each  Zaddik  sought  to  have 
a  whole  little  sect  to  himself,  from  which  to  draw  an  undi- 
vided revenue.  And  each  deluded  little  sect  as  it  arose 
boasted  of  the  exclusive  possession  of  the  true  Zaddik. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  these  strictures  apply  to 
the  whole  class  of  Zaddikim.  The  greater  number  of 
Baalshem's  leading  disciples  as  well  as  Beer's  were  beyond 


42  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

question  men  of  pure,  unalloyed  piety,  who  would  have 
rejected  with  scorn  any  idea  of  making  a  trade  of  their 
sacred  profession.  Their  motives  and  their  zeal  were 
alike  ideal.  Many  gave  up  highly  paid  posts  as  Rabbis 
when  they  joined  the  new  sect.  Some  emigrated  to  Pales- 
tine to  lead  a  holy  life  on  holy  ground,  others  sought  to 
become  religious  specialists,  following  out  practically, 
although  with  some  exaggeration,  a  favourite  doctrine  of 
the  Founder,  that  he  who  observes  but  one  commandment 
devotedly  and  lovingly,  may  reach  the  goal  desired :  the 
union  with  God.  Thus  one  Zaddik  made  it  his  business 
never  to  tell  the  smallest  falsehood,  whatever  the  cost  or 
the  inconvenience  of  truth  might  be.  It  is  related  that 
the  Russian  Government,  suspecting  the  Jews  of  his  town 
of  smuggling,  consented  to  withdraw  the  charge  if  he 
declared  his  brethren  innocent.  Having  no  alternative  but 
either  to  bring  misfortune  on  his  brethren  or  to  tell  an  un- 
truth, he  prayed  to  God  to  save  him  from  this  dilemma  by 
sending  death  upon  him.  And  lo !  when  the  officials  came 
to  fetch  him  before  the  law  court  they  found  him  dead. 
Another,  thinking  that  the  commandment  in  Exodus  xxiii. 
3,  relating  to  the  help  that  should  be  given  to  a  neighbour 
or  enemy  when  "  his  ass  is  lying  under  its  burden,"  was 
practically  unobserved,  devoted  himself  to  its  fulfilment. 
He  was  continually  to  be  seen  in  the  streets,  helping  one 
man  to  load  his  waggon,  and  another  to  drag  his  cart  out 
of  the  mire.  A  third  made  the  service  of  the  oppressed 
his  religious  speciality.  It  is  said  that  one  day  his  wife, 
having  had  a  quarrel  with  her  maid,  was  setting  out  to  the 
magistrate  of  the  town  to  obtain  satisfaction.  Noticing 
that  her  husband  was  about  to  accompany  her,  she  asked 
him  whither  he  was  bound.  He  replied,  "to  the  magis- 


THE    CHASSIDIM  43 

trate."  His  wife  declared  that  it  was  below  his  dignity  to 
take  any  part  in  a  quarrel  with  a  servant.  She  could  deal 
with  the  matter  herself.  The  Zaddik  replied,  "That  may 
be,  but  I  intend  to  represent  your  maid,  who  when  ac- 
cused by  my  wife  will  find  no  one  willing  to  take  her 
part."  And  then,  bursting  into  a  passion  of  tears,  he 
quoted  Job  xxxi.  13:  "If  I  did  despise  the  cause  of  my 
man-servant  or  of  my  maid-servant,  when  they  contended 
with  me,  what  shall  I  do  when  God  riseth  up  ? " 

Several  Zaddikim  were  learned  men  and  thinkers  of 
no  ordinary  kind.  The  works  of  Solomon  Ladier  or  of 
Mendel  Witipsker,  read  with  attention  and  without  West- 
ern preconceptions,  certainly  give  the  impression  of  both 
originality  and  depth  of  thought.  But  most  characteristic 
of  all  is  the  passionate  yearning  of  authors  such  as  these 
towards  the  Divine.  The  reader  is  astonished  and  moved 
by  the  intense  sincerity  and  ardour  of  their  longing  after 
God.  But,  despite  the  adherence  of  these  worthy  men, 
the  fate  of  Chassidism,  as  a  regenerative  force,  was  sealed 
from  the  day  when  Zaddikism  replaced  the  original  doc- 
trines of  the  sect. 

For,  apart  from  the  obvious  theological  considerations 
already  suggested,  there  are  two  points  of  inherent  weak- 
ness in  the  cult  of  the  Zaddik  which  naturally  doomed  it 
to  perversion  and  failure.  The  necessary  qualifications  for 
"  Zaddikship  "  are  wholly  undefined.  We  hear  a  great 
deal  about  what  a  Zaddik  actually  is,  but  we  hear  very 
little  about  what  he  should  be.  The  Zaddik  has  many 
virtues,  but  we  are  nowhere  told  what  are  his  indispen- 
sable qualifications.  Moreover,  the  Zaddik  is  a  being 
who  can  be  comprehended  by  the  understanding  as  little 
as  an  angel,  or  as  God  Himself.  He  is  realised  by  faith, 


44  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

not  conceived  by  thought.  Hence  there  is  no  human  test 
of  a  true  Zaddik  except  the  test  of  miracles;  and  every 
student  of  religious  history  knows  the  deceitful  character 
of  that  test. 

The  second  source  of  danger  arose  from  the  Chassidim 
holding  it  to  be  their  sacred  duty  to  provide  for  the  Zad- 
dik a  life  of  comfort  and  ease.  The  Zaddik  must  pursue 
his  divine  avocations  undisturbed  by  grosser  cares.  But 
what  were  the  consequences  ?  The  Chassidim  believed 
they  could  win  the  grace  and  blessing  of  the  Zaddik 
by  the  richness  and  variety  of  their  gifts.  A  Zaddik's 
career  became  a  very  profitable  concern.  The  result  of 
both  defects  was  that  not  only  was  the  opportunity  given 
for  every  scheming  charlatan  to  become  a  Zaddik,  but 
inducements  were  offered  to  make  the  deception  lucra- 
tive. Hence  the  anxiety  of  the  false  Zaddikim,  already 
noticed,  to  found  separate  communities. 

Among  the  Chassidim  of  to-day  there  is  not  one  in 
ten  thousand  who  has  the  faintest  conception  of  those 
sublime  ideas  which  inspired  Baalshem  and  his  immedi- 
ate disciples.  It  is  still  the  interest  of  the  wretched 
ringleaders  of  a  widely  spread  delusion  to  crush  and  keep 
down  every  trace  of  reflection  and  thought  so  that  they 
may  play  at  will  with  the  conscience  and  purses  of  their 
adherents.  The  new  scientific  movement,  inaugurated  by 
such  men  as  Krochmal,  Zunz,  and  others  who  came  under 
the  influence  of  the  German  critical  spirit,  found  in  them 
its  hottest  and  most  fanatical  opponents.  That  the  cult 
of  the  Zaddikim  has  not  led  to  still  more  disastrous  con- 
sequences is  solely  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Chassidim  in 
general  have  remained  faithful  to  the  Law.  It  is  the 
Law,  against  the  excessive  study  of  which  the  original 


THE    CHASSIDIM 


45 


Chassidim  protested,  that  has  put  limits  to  the  license  of 
its  modern  false  prophets. 

Amid  much  that  is  bad,  the  Chassidim  have  preserved 
through  the  whole  movement  a  warm  heart,  and  an  ar- 
dent, sincere  faith.  There  is  a  certain  openness  of  char- 
acter and  a  ready  friendliness  about  even  the  modern 
Chassidim  which  are  very  attractive.  Religion  is  still  to 
them  a  matter  of  life  and  death.  Their  faith  is  still  real 
enough  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  a  Luther,  but  it  is  di- 
verted and  wasted  upon  unworthy  objects.  If  Chassidism 
is  to  be  reformed,  its  worship  must  no  longer  be  of  man ; 
it  must  be  brought  back  again  to  the  source  of  all  Beauty, 
all  Wisdom,  and  all  Goodness ;  it  must  be  restored  to 
God. 


R  A 
Jf  THE 

DIVERSITY 


II 


NACHMAN    KROCHMAL   AND   THE    "PER- 
PLEXITIES  OF   THE   TIME" 

IN  her  good-natured  panegyric  of  mediocrity  which  is 
known  under  the  title  of  Scenes  of  Clerical  Life,  George 
Eliot  remarked :  "  Let  us  hope  that  there  is  a  saving 
ignorance." 

Strange  as  this  demand  may  sound,  the  wish  of  the 
great  novelist  to  see  her  favoured  mediocrities  "  saved," 
has  been  shared  by  the  great  majority  of  mankind.  I 
know  that  I,  at  least,  echo  that  desire  with  all  my  heart. 
And  I  am  afraid  that  I  am  prompted  by  some  rather  self- 
ish reasons.  It  would  be  somewhat  hard,  when  one  is 
born  with  small  abilities,  but  a  great  desire  for  being 
saved,  to  be  deprived  of  the  hope  held  out  by  the  author 
of  Adam  Bede. 

But  there  are  some,  I  am  afraid,  who  are  not  satisfied 
with  this  dictum  of  George  Eliot.  They  show  a  strong 
tendency  to  make  salvation  a  monopoly  of  ignorance. 
This  is  a  little  too  selfish.  With  all  due  respect  to  every 
form  of  ignorance,  sacred  as  well  as  profane,  we  ought,  I 
think,  to  believe  that  there  is  also  such  a  thing  as  a  saving 
knowledge.  Nay,  we  might  go  even  farther.  There  may 
be  certain  epochs  in  history  when  there  is  hardly  any 

46 


NACHMAN  KROCHMAL 


47 


other  path  to  salvation  than  knowledge,  and  the  deep 
search  after  truth. 

We  all  know  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  "  The  Lord 
preserveth  the  simple."  But  as  there  are  periods  in  the 
life  of  the  individual  when  naivete  has  to  give  way  to 
sagacity  and  reflection,  so  there  are  times  in  history  at 
which  Providence  does  not  choose  to  leave  men  in  sim- 
plicity. At  such  times  doubts  arise,  as  though  of  them- 
selves ;  questions  suddenly  become  open  when  they  had 
been  supposed  solved  for  centuries;  and  the  human  mind 
is  stirred  by  a  sceptical  breeze  of  which  no  man  can  tell 
whence  it  came.  One  may  under  those  circumstances  be 
indifferent,  but  one  can  be  simple  no  more. 

Even  in  such  cases,  however,  man  has  no  cause  to  de- 
spair. When  our  dearest  beliefs  are  shaken  by  all  kinds 
of  doubts,  Providence  sends  us  also  great  thinkers,  earnest 
lovers  of  truth,  who  devote  their  lives  to  enlightening  our 
puzzled  minds.  Not  that  these  men  try  to  answer  all  the 
questions  by  which  we  feel  perplexed.  They  endeavour 
to  satisfy  us,  partly  by  showing  that  many  of  our  difficul- 
ties are  not  difficulties  at  all,  but  merely  arise  from  super- 
ficiality, and  partly  by  proving  that  the  great  cause  about 
which  we  feel  so  much  anxiety  does  not  exactly  depend 
on  the  solution  of  the  questions  that  are  troubling  us. 
They  give  to  the  things  which  are  dearer  to  us  than  our 
life  a  fresh  aspect,  which  enables  us  to  remain  attached  to 
them  with  the  same  devotion  and  love  as  before.  To 
speak  again  in  the  words  of  the  Psalmist :  "  Thou  sendest 
forth  Thy  Spirit,  and  they  are  created,  and  Thou  renewest 
the  face  of  the  earth." 

This  spirit  that  renews  the  face  of  things  is  what  I 
understand  by  "  saving  knowledge."  As  men  of  that 


48  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

saving  knowledge  we  may  regard  Rabban  Johanan  ben 
Zaccai1  and  his  disciples,  who  made  it  possible  for  Ju- 
daism to  survive  the  destruction  of  the  Temple,  which 
some  believed  to  involve  the  end  of  the  religion.  As  such 
men  we  may  look  upon  R.  Saadiah  Gaon  and  his  fol- 
lowers, who  worked  at  a  time  when  Judaism  was  menaced 
in  its  inner  life,  namely  in  the  tradition,  by  the  attempts  of 
the  narrow-minded  Caraites  to  convert  it  into  a  bookish 
religion.2  Such  men  were  Maimonides  and  his  successors, 
who  came  to  the  aid  of  religion  when  it  had  got  into  dog- 
matic troubles  by  reason  of  its  coming  into  contact  with 
various  philosophical  systems.  And  in  order  to  approach 
the  subject  of  the  present  essay,  I  venture  to  say  that  a 
man  of  such  saving  knowledge  was  also  Nachman  Kroch- 
mal,  who  lived  and  laboured  in  the  first  half  of  the  present 
century,  when  Judaism  had  been  terribly  shaken  by  the 
scepticism  of  Voltaire,  and  the  platitudes  of  the  so-called 
Mendelssohnian  school. 

Nachman  Krochmal  was  born  on  the  i/th  of  February 
in  the  year  1785.  His  father,  Solomon  Krochmal,  was  a 
merchant  of  Brody,  a  commercial  frontier  town  in  the 
north-east  of  Galicia  in  Austria.  In  his  early  years  Solo- 
mon often  used  to  visit  Berlin  for  business  purposes.  He 
is  said  to  have  seen  Mendelssohn  there  on  one  occasion, 
and  to  have  learned  greatly  to  revere  the  Jewish  sage. 
And  it  is  not  unlikely  that  Nachman's  subsequent  admira- 
tion for  Mendelssohn  was  partly  due  to  his  father's  influ- 
ence. 

Solomon  was  a  man  of  considerable  wealth,  and  he, 
therefore,  endeavoured  to  give  his  son  the  best  possible 
education.  But  as  a  respectable  member  of  a  Polish  com- 
munity a  hundred  years  ago,  Solomon  had  to  follow  the 


NACHMAN  KROCHMAL  ^ 

fashion  adopted  by  his  neighbours,  and  the  best  possible 
education  consisted  in  affording  the  child  an  opportunity 
to  study  the  Talmud  and  other  Rabbinical  works.  All 
other  languages  and  their  literatures  were  sealed  books  to 
the  child  —  a  very  absurd  and  regrettable  fashion  indeed. 
But  let  us  not  be  too  hard  on  Polish  Jews.  I  have  been 
told  that  there  are  countries  on  our  globe  where  people 
have  been  driven  by  the  force  of  fashion  into  the  opposite 
extreme  ;  where,  with  few  exceptions,  they  think  that  the 
Talmud,  as  well  as  the  whole  Hebrew  literature,  must 
needs  be  excluded  from  the  programme  of  a  gentleman's 
education. 

Happily,  or  the  reverse,  Krochmal's  childhood  did  not 
last  long,  for  in  the  year  1798  we  find  that  Nachman,  a 
boy  of  fourteen,  was  already  married  to  a  Miss  Haberman 
in  Zolkiew.  As  a  result  of  this  foolish  custom  of  marrying 
at  so  very  early  an  age,  Nachman  was  hardly  ever  a  boy ; 
we  have  at  once  to  deal  with  him  as  a  man. 

It  was  then  customary  in  Poland,  and  perhaps  is  so  still, 
for  the  father  of  the  bride  to  provide  for  the  support  of  the 
young  couple  for  some  years  after  their  marriage.  In 
order  to  reduce  the  expense  of  this  arrangement,  the 
bridegroom  had  to  reside  in  the  same  house  as  his  father- 
in-law.  Thus  we  see  Krochmal  removing  from  Brody  to 
Zolkiew,  the  native  town  of  his  wife.  Here  Krochmal 
lived  in  the  house  of  her  father  for  many  years,  entirely 
devoted  to  his  studies ;  and  he  certainly  needed  all  his 
time  for  them.  For  he  now  began  to  expand  the  sphere 
of  his  education,  to  embrace  subjects  quite  new  to  him. 
By  his  marriage  Nachman  seems  to  have  gained  a  certain 
amount  of  independence,  and  the  first  use  he  made  of  it 
was  to  study  the  Guide  of  the  Perplexed*  of  Maimonides, 


50  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

the  Commentaries  of  Ibn  Ezra  on  the  Bible,4  and  other 
more  or  less  philosophical  works  written  in  the  Hebrew 
language.  His  next  step  was  to  learn  German ;  but,  as 
his  biographers  inform  us,  he  was  not  able  to  follow  this 
course  without  undergoing  many  struggles,  and  overcoming 
many  obstacles. 

It  would  lead  us  too  far  to  give  a  full  account  of  the 
difficulties  which  the  young  scholar  had  to  conquer  while 
pursuing  his  new  studies.  They  will  be  sufficiently 
characterised  by  the  following  extract  from  a  Hebrew 
letter  of  his  disciple,  Solomon  Leb  Rapoport,  who, 
writing  in  1841  concerning  his  master  and  friend,  re- 
marks :  "  Consider  this,  ye  inhabitants  of  Germany " 
and,  I  may  add,  ye  inhabitants  of  England  —  "and  you 
will  be  astounded.  It  is  easy  for  you  to  avoid  being  one- 
sided, and  to  study  different  sciences,  for  you  possess 
many  schools  and  teachers  from  every  branch  of  learning. 
It  is  not  so  in  Poland  and  Russia  even  at  present,  much 
less  was  it  so  forty  years  ago.  There  is  no  teacher,  no 
guide,  no  supporter,  for  the  Jew  who  desires  any  sort  of 
improvement.  The  Jew  who  wishes  to  enter  on  a  new 
path  of  learning  has  to  prepare  the  road  for  himself.  And 
when  he  has  entered  on  it,  his  friend  will  come  to  him  and 
ask,  *  Is  it  true  that  you  have  got  scientific  books  in  your 
house  ?  Mind  you  do  not  mention  it  to  any  one.  There 
are  enough  bigots  in  the  town  to  persecute  you  and  all 
your  family  if  they  get  scent  of  it.' '  It  was  under  these 
conditions  that  Krochmal  pursued  his  studies,  which  were 
by  no  means  few  or  easy,  for  he  was  not  content  with  a 
knowledge  of  only  the  lighter  portions  of  German  litera- 
ture. He  soon  began  to  read  the  works  of  Lessing, 
Mendelssohn,  and  more  especially  of  Kant,  who  always 


NA  CHMAN  KR  O  CHMAL  5  l 

remained  his  favourite  philosopher.  In  his  later  years 
he  also  became  acquainted  with  the  writings  of  Fichte, 
Schelling,  and  Hegel.  But  to  the  last  he  could  not  con- 
sole himself  for  having  missed  the  advantages  of  a  system- 
atic university  education. 

After  having  learned  German,  Krochmal  proceeded  to 
acquire  a  knowledge  of  Latin  and  French,  and  to  read 
the  best  books  written  in  those  languages.  To  deepen 
his  knowledge  of  Hebrew,  he  studied  Arabic  and  Syraic, 
but  we  are  unable  to  say  how  far  he  succeeded  in  master- 
ing these  languages.  With  these  studies,  which  appear 
to  have  occupied  our  philosopher  for  an  interval  of  ten 
years  after  his  marriage,  the  first  period  of  his  life  seems 
also  to  end.  But  the  hard  work  of  ten  years  did  not  pass 
over  the  delicate  youth  without  undermining  his  health 
for  ever.  At  the  age  of  twenty-four,  Krochmal  fell  sick 
of  an  illness  which  compelled  him  to  interrupt  his  work. 
He  was  forced  to  go  to  Lemberg  to  consult  the  doctors  of 
that  town,  and  he  had  to  remain  there  for  a  long  time. 
And  now  began  Krochmal's  career  as  a  teacher.  For 
during  his  stay  at  Lemberg  there  gathered  round  him  a 
band  of  young  scholars  whom  Krochmal's  fame  had  al- 
ready reached.  It  is  useless  to  enumerate  the  names  of 
all  these  students.  Among  them  figured  Isaac  Erter, 
Samson  Bloch,  A.  Bodek,  and  many  others.  The  most 
gifted  of  them  was  undoubtedly  Rapoport,  who  afterwards 
became  even  more  famous  than  his  master  Krochmal.  It 
is  not  easy  to  define  accurately  the  relation  that  subsisted 
between  these  two  men.  Graetz,  in  his  history,  calls 
Rapoport  a  disciple  of  Krochmal.  Rapoport  himself,  in 
his  memoir  of  Krochmal,  describes  the  latter  as  a  dear 
friend  with  whom  he  was  wont  to  discuss  literary  topics. 


$2  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Zunz  does  not  mention  Rapoport  at  all  in  his  account 
of  our  author.  It  seems  to  me  that  this  relation  may 
be  most  aptly  defined  by  the  Talmudic  term  "  Talmid- 
Chaber,"  5  "  disciple-colleague." 

Indeed,  Krochmal's  whole  method  of  teaching  was  rather 
that  of  a  companion  than  of  a  professor.  He  gave  no  set 
lectures  on  particular  subjects,  but  conveyed  his  instruc- 
tion rather  by  means  of  suggestive  conversations  with  his 
younger  friends.  His  usual  habit  was  to  walk  with  his 
pupils  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  town,  and  to  try  to 
influence  their  minds  each  in  accordance  with  its  bent. 
If  any  of  his  disciples  showed  an  inclination  for  poetry, 
Krochmal  sought  to  refine  his  taste  by  directing  his  atten- 
tion to  the  best  works  in  Hebrew  and  German  literature. 
To  another,  whose  fancy  strayed  into  mysticism,  he  recom- 
mended the  writings  of  Philo  and  Ibn  Ezra,  at  the  same 
time  suggesting  how  the  works  of  the  latter  should  be  in- 
terpreted. A  third  who,  like  Rapoport,  was  interested  in 
historical  researches,  Krochmal  instructed  in  the  methods 
of  critical  inquiry. 

There  must  have  been  some  fascinating  charm  in 
Nachman's  personality,  which  made  him  irresistible  to  all 
who  came  into  contact  with  him.  Rapoport  has  described 
his  first  interview  with  Krochmal.  "  It  is  more  than 
thirty  years  since  I  first  made  his  acquaintance,  and  be- 
held the  glory  of  his  presence.  Though  he  was  in  weak 
health,  still  his  soul  was  strong ;  and  as  soon  as  I  con- 
versed with  him  there  came  over  me  a  spirit  of  judgment 
and  knowledge.  I  felt  almost  transformed  into  another 
man."  Elsewhere  the  same  writer  says  :  "  Oh,  how  sweet 
to  me  were  these  walks  with  Krochmal  —  sweeter  than  all 
the  pleasures  of  this  world.  I  could  never  have  enough 


NACHMAN  KROCHMAL 


53 


of  his  wisdom ;  with  his  every  word  he  conveyed  a  new 
lesson." 

After  a  lengthy  stay  at  Lemberg,  Krochmal  partially, 
though  not  entirely,  recovered  from  his  severe  illness ;  he 
remained  weak  and  pale  for  the  rest  of  his  days.  His 
antagonists,  the  Chassidim,  believed  him  to  be  possessed 
by  a  demon  who  could  find  no  better  dwelling-place  than 
in  the  person  of  this  arch-heretic.  Had  it  been  in  their 
power  they  would  probably  have  dragged  him  to  some  ex- 
orcist for  the  purpose  of  driving  out  his  German,  French, 
Latin,  and  other  symptoms  of  demoniacal  heresy.  Happily 
the  orthodox  were  powerless  to  do  this,  so  Krochmal  was 
left  unmolested,  and  was  allowed  to  resume  his  walks  and 
studies.  It  may  be  here  remarked  that  Krochmal  in  gen- 
eral avoided  giving  the  Chassidim  any  cause  for  reasonable 
complaint.  Rapoport  asserts  that  his  master  was  "  deeply 
religious  and  a  strict  observer  of  the  law.  He  was  zeal- 
ously anxious  to  perform  every  ordinance,  Biblical  or 
Rabbinical."  The  only  liberty  that  Krochmal  claimed  for 
himself  and  his  disciples  was  the  right  to  study  what  they 
thought  best  and  in  the  way  they  thought  best.  When 
this  liberty  was  attacked,  he  showed  a  firmness  and  reso- 
lution which  would  hardly  have  been  expected  from  this 
quiet  and  gentle  man.  To  one  of  his  pupils,  who  made 
concessions  to  the  Chassidim  and  their  Zaddikim  worship, 
Krochmal  wrote :  "  Be  firm  in  this  matter  unless  you  wish 
to  earn  the  contempt  of  every  honest  man.  One  who  is 
afraid  of  these  people,  and  debases  himself  before  them 
bears  a  mean  soul  that  was  born  to  slavery.  The  man  that 
wishes  to  rise  above  the  mob,  with  its  confused  notions 
and  corrupt  morality,  must  be  courageous  as  a  lion  in  con- 
quering the  obstacles  that  beset  his  path.  Consideration 


54  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

of  what  people  will  say,  what  bigots  will  whisper,  what 
crafty  enemies  will  scheme  —  questions  such  as  these  can 
have  but  one  effect,  —  to  darken  the  intellect  and  confuse 
the  faculty  of  judgment." 

So  Krochmal  continued  his  studies  without  interruption 
till  1814,  when  the  death  of  his  wife's  mother  brought  his 
period  of  ease  and  comfort  to  an  end.  His  father-in-law 
seems  to  have  died  some  time  before,  and  Krochmal  was 
forced  to  seek  his  own  living.  He  became  a  merchant, 
but  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  he  did  not  prove  as  successful 
a  man  of  business  as  he  was  a  man  of  letters.  He  found 
it  a  hard  struggle  to  earn  a  living.  But  the  sever- 
est trial  which  he  had  to  undergo  was  the  death  of  his 
wife  in  1826.  In  a  letter,  dating  from  about  this  time, 
to  a  friend  who  had  asked  him  for  assistance  in  his  philo- 
sophical inquiries,  Krochmal  wrote  —  "  How  can  I  help 
you  now  ?  I  am  already  an  old  man ;  my  head  is  gray, 
and  my  health  is  broken.  In  the  last  three  years  I  have 
met  with  many  misfortunes.  My  beloved  wife  died  after 
a  long  illness.  My  daughter  will  soon  leave  me  to  get 
married,  my  elder  son  will  depart  to  seek  his  livelihood, 
and  I  shall  be  left  alone  with  only  a  child  of  ten  years,  the 
son  of  my  old  age.  I  will  lift  up  mine  eyes  unto  the 
hills :  From  whence  shall  my  help  come  ? " 

Nachman  was  evidently  in  very  low  spirits  at  this  time, 
but  he  was  in  too  true  a  sense  a  philosopher  to  despair. 
He  turned  for  comfort  to  his  studies,  and  at  this  dark 
epoch  of  his  life  he  first  became  acquainted  with  the 
Philosophy  of  Hegel,  whose  system  he  was  wont  to  call 
the  "  Philosophy  of  Philosophies." 

For  the  next  ten  years  the  works  of  Hegel  and  inqui- 
ries into  Jewish  history  appear  to  have  absorbed  all  the 


NACHMAN  KROCHMAL 


55 


leisure  that  his  mercantile  occupation  left  him.  We  shall 
presently  see  what  the  result  of  these  studies  was.  No 
fresh  subjects  were  undertaken  by  Krochmal  in  the  last 
years  of  his  life ;  he  had  already  acquired  a  fund  of 
knowledge  vast  enough  to  engage  all  his  thoughts.  There 
are,  however,  some  remaining  points  in  his  private  circum- 
stances which  it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  mention. 

Krochmal,  as  has  been  already  related,  was  not  prosper- 
ous in  his  business.  Things  went  from  bad  to  worse,  and 
he  was  compelled  in  1836  to  seek  a  situation.  "There 
ought  to  be  literary  men  poor,"  some  writer  has  main- 
tained, "to  show  whether  they  are  genuine  or  not."  This 
test  Krochmal  successfully  passed  through.  Even  as  a 
young  man  Nachman's  strength  of  character  was  admired 
by  his  contemporaries  not  less  than  his  rare  learning.  In 
his  subsequent  distress,  he  gave  evidence  of  the  truth  of 
this  judgment.  Despite  his  poverty,  his  friends  could  not 
prevail  upon  him  to  accept  the  post  of  Rabbi  in  any  Jewish 
community.  "I  am  unwilling,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  "to 
be  the  cause  of  dissensions  in  any  Jewish  congregation. 
I  should  prefer  to  die  of  hunger  rather  than  become  a 
Rabbi  under  present  circumstances."  He  expressed  his 
views  on  this  subject  even  more  decidedly  on  a  later  occa- 
sion when  the  Berlin  congregation  offered  him  the  post  of 
Chief  Rabbi  in  that  town.  In  a  letter,  conveying  his  re- 
fusal of  this  honourable  office,  he  says  :  "  I  never  thought 
of  becoming  the  Conscience-counsellor  (GewissensratJi)  of 
men.  My  line  of  studies  was  not  directed  to  that  end, 
nor  would  it  accord  with  my  disposition  and  sentiments. 
The  only  post  that  I  should  care  to  accept  would  be  that 
of  teacher  in  the  Jewish  Theological  Seminary,  which, 
as  I  was  informed,  you  were  thinking  of  establishing  in 


5 6  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Berlin."  The  plan  to  found  such  an  institution  was  not 
realised  till  forty  years  later,  and  in  the  interval  Nachman 
had  to  look  for  his  living  in  other  regions  than  Jewish  the- 
ology. Being  in  poor  circumstances,  and  as  his  children 
and  friends  had  left  him,  he  felt  very  lonely  at  Zolkiew. 
"  Nobody  cares  for  me  here,"  he  writes,  "  and  I  am  equally 
indifferent."  His  one  desire  was  to  obtain  a  situation  at 
Brody,  possibly  as  book-keeper  with  a  salary  of  some  thirty 
pounds  a  year,  on  condition  that  he  would  be  expected  to 
devote  only  half  the  day  to  his  business  duties,  thus  secur- 
ing for  himself  leisure  for  philosophical  studies. 

His  terms  were  accepted,  and  he  obtained  the  humble 
post  he  sought.  He  remained  in  Brody  for  the  next  two 
years,  1836-8,  but  at  the  end  of  1838  he  fell  so  danger- 
ously ill  that  he  could  no  longer  resist  the  pressing  request 
of  his  daughter  to  live  with  her  at  Tarnopol.  She  had 
urged  him  to  take  this  step  even  previous  to  his  removal  to 
Brody,  but  he  had  declined  on  the  plea  that  he  preferred 
to  live  by  the  labour  of  his  hands.  Now,  however,  he 
yielded  to  her  wish,  and  betook  himself  to  Tarnopol,  where 
for  two  years  longer  he  lived  affectionately  tended  by  his 
children  and  respected  by  all  who  knew  him.  In  May 
1840,  Krochmal's  illness  began  to  develop  fatal  symptoms, 
and  he  died  in  the  arms  of  his  daughter  on  the  3ist  of 
July  (the  first  of  Ab),  at  the  age  of  fifty-five.  As  Zunz 
happily  remarked  :  "  This  great  man  was  born  on  the  7th 
of  Adar,  the  birthday  of  Moses  (according  to  Jewish  tra- 
dition), and  died  on  the  first  of  Ab,  the  anniversary  of  the 
death  of  Aaron,  the  High  Priest." 

I  have  tried  in  the  foregoing  remarks  to  give  a  short 
sketch  of  our  Rabbi's  life  according  to  the  accounts  of 
Zunz,  Rapoport,  and  Letteris.  There  is  one  other  point 


NACHMAN  KROCHMAL  57 

to  which  I  must  allude,  as  it  involves  a  consideration  on 
which  Letteris  seems  to  lay  much  stress.  This  biographer 
appears  to  think  that  Krochmal  was  in  his  youth  greatly 
influenced  by  the  society  in  which  he  moved,  consisting  as 
it  did  of  many  learned  and  enlightened  men.  There  is, 
too,  the  oft-quoted  saying  of  Goethe :  — 

Wer  den  Dichter  will  verstehen 
Muss  in  Dichters  Lande  gehen. 

And  I  am  probably  expected  to  give  some  account  of  the 
state  of  society  in  which  Nachman  grew  up.  I  regret 
that  I  must  ask  to  be  excused  from  doing  so.  I  cannot 
consent  to  take  the  reader  to  Krochmal's  land.  And  if  I 
might  venture  to  give  him  my  humble  advice,  I  should 
only  say,  "By  all  means  stop  at  home."  Goethe  may  be 
right  about  the  poet,  but  his  remark  does  not  apply  to  the 
case  of  the  scholar.  It  may  be  true,  as  some  think,  that 
every  great  man  is  the  product  of  his  time,  but  it  cer- 
tainly does  not  follow  that  he  is  the  product  of  his  coun- 
try. Nor  could  I  name  any  other  country  of  which  Kroch- 
mal was  the  product.  Many  a  city  no  doubt  boasted  itself 
a  town  full  of  "  Chakhamim  and  Sopherim  "  6  as  the  He- 
brew phrase  is,  or,  as  we  would  express  it,  "  a  seat  of  learn- 
ing," full  of  scholars  of  the  ancient  and  modern  schools. 
But  neither  these  ancient  scholars  nor  the  modern  were 
of  a  kind  to  produce  a  real  scholar  and  an  enlightened 
thinker  like  Krochmal.  There  were  many  men  who  knew 
by  heart  the  whole  of  the  Halachic  works  of  Maimonides, 
the  Mishnah,  and  even  the  whole  of  the  Babylonian  Tal- 
mud. This  is  very  imposing.  But  if  you  look  a  little 
closer,  you  will  find  that  with  a  few  exceptions  —  such  as 
the  school  of  R.  Elijah  Wilna  —  these  men,  generally 


58  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

speaking,  hardly  deserve  the  name  of  scholars  at  all. 
They  were  rather  a  sort  of  studying  engines.  The  steam- 
engine  passes  over  a  continent,  here  through  romantic 
scenery,  there  in  the  midst  of  arid  deserts,  by  stream  and 
mountain  and  valley,  always  with  the  same  monotonous 
hum  and  shriek.  So  these  scholars  went  through  the 
Talmud  with  never  changing  feelings.  They  did  not 
rejoice  at  the  description  which  is  given  in  tractate  Biccu- 
rim 7  of  the  procession  formed  when  the  first-fruits  were 
brought  into  the  Holy  Temple.  They  were  not  much 
saddened  when  reading  in  tractate  Taanith  8  of  the  un- 
happy days  so  recurrent  in  Jewish  history.  They  were 
not  delighted  by  the  wisdom  of  Seder  Nezikin?  which 
deals  with  civil  law ;  nor  were  they  vexed  of  Seder  Taha- 
roth™  which  treats  of  the  laws  of  cleanliness  and  unclean- 
liness,  that  by  their  exaggeration  gave  cause  to  much 
dissension  in  the  time  of  the  Temple.  The  pre-Talmudic 
literature,  such  as  the  Sipkra,  Siphre',  and  Mechilta  n  —  the 
only  existing  means  of  obtaining  an  insight  into  the 
Talmud  —  were  altogether  neglected.  All  that  these 
readers  cared  for  was  to  push  on  to  the  end,  and  the 
prayer  recited  at  the  close  was  of  more  importance  to 
them  than  the  treatise  they  had  perused. 

Not  less  melancholy  was  the  spectacle  presented  by  the 
so-called  men  of  "Enlightenment"  (Aufkldrung).  They 
belonged  chiefly  to  the  rationalistic  school  of  Mendelssohn, 
but  they  equalled  their  master  neither  in  knowledge  nor 
in  moral  character.  It  was  an  enlightenment  without 
foundation  in  real  scholarship,  and  did  not  lead  to  an  ideal 
life,  though  again  I  must  add  that  there  were  exceptions. 
These  men  were  rather  what  Germans  would  term  Schon- 
geister,  a  set  of  dilettanti  who  cared  to  study  as  little  as 


NACHMAN  KROCHMAL 


59 


possible,  and  to  write  as  much  as  possible.  They  wrote 
bad  grammars,  superficial  commentaries  on  the  Bible, 
and  terribly  dull  poems.  Of  this  literature,  with  the 
exception  of  Erter's  Watchman^  there  is  scarcely  a  work 
that  one  would  care  to  read  twice.  Most  of  them 
despised  Rabbinism,  but  without  understanding  its  noblest 
forms  as  they  are  to  be  traced  in  the  Talmud  and  later 
Hebrew  literature.  They  did  not  dislike  Judaism,  but 
the  only  Judaism  they  affected  was  one  "  which  does  not 
oppose  itself  to  anything  in  particular";  or,  as  Heine 
would  have  described  it,  "Eine  reinliche  Religion."  In 
one  respect  these  little  men  were  great :  in  mutual 
admiration,  which  reached  such  a  pitch  that  such  titles 
as  "  Great  Luminary,"  "  World-famed  Sage,"  were  con- 
sidered altogether  too  insignificant  and  commonplace. 

I  will  now  pass  to  the  writings  of  Krochmal.  It  must 
be  premised  that  Krochmal  was  not  a  voluminous  author. 
All  his  writings,  including  a  few  letters  which  were  pub- 
lished in  various  Hebrew  periodicals,  would  scarcely 
occupy  four  hundred  pages.  Krochmal  used  to  call  him- 
self "  der  ewige  Student "  (the  perpetual  pupil).  He  did 
not  read  books,  nor  study  philosophical  systems,  with  the 
object  of  writing  books  of  his  own  on  them.  He  read 
and  studied  in  order  that  he  might  become  a  better  and  a 
wiser  man.  Besides,  he  did  not  think  himself  competent 
to  judge  on  grave  subjects,  nor  did  he  consider  his  judg- 
ment, even  if  he  formed  one,  worthy  of  publication.  He 
counselled  his  friends  to  be  equally  slow  in  publishing 
their  views  to  the  world.  "  Be  not,"  he  wrote  to  a  corre- 
spondent,—  "  be  not  hasty  in  forming  your  opinions  before 
you  have  studied  the  literature  of  the  subject  with  care 
and  devotion.  This  is  no  easy  matter,  for  no  man  can 


60  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

obtain  any  real  knowledge  of  the  Torah  and  philosophy 
unless  he  is  prepared  to  give  himself  up  in  single-hearted 
devotion  to  his  studies."  Severe  though  he  was  to  his 
friends,  he  was  still  more  severe  to  himself.  Though  he 
had  been  collecting  materials  on  subjects  of  Jewish  history 
and  philosophy  from  his  early  youth,  it  was  not  until  he 
had  endured  much  persuasion  and  pressure  from  his 
friends  that  he  began  to  write  down  his  thoughts  in  a 
connected  form.  We  thus  possess  only  one  work  from 
the  pen  of  this  author ;  but  that  work  is  the  Guide  of  the 
Perplexed  of  the  Time?5*  a  posthumous  book  published 
in  1851,  eleven  years  after  Krochmal's  death.  His  work 
had  been  much  interrupted  by  illness  during  the  last  years 
of  his  life,  and  as  a  necessary  consequence  many  parts  of 
his  treatise  finally  remained  in  an  unfinished  state.  Kroch- 
mal  commissioned  his  children  to  hand  over  his  papers  to 
Zunz,  who  was  to  arrange  and  edit  them  as  best  he  might. 
Zunz,  who  in  his  reverence  for  Krochmal  went  so  far  as 
to  call  him  the  man  of  God,  gladly  accepted  the  task,  in 
which  he  was  aided  by  Steinschneider.  Unfortunately, 
the  work  was  published  in  Lemberg,  a  place  famous  for 
spoiling  books.  Even  the  skill  of  these  two  great  masters 
did  not  suffice  to  save  Krochmal's  work  from  the  fate  to 
which  all  the  books  printed  in  Lemberg  seem  inevitably 
doomed.  Thus  Krochmal's  work  is  printed  on  bad  paper, 
and  with  faint  ink ;  it  is  full  of  misprints  and  the  text  is 
sometimes  confused  with  the  notes.  A  second  edition 
appeared  in  Lemberg  in  1863  ;  but,  it  is  scarcely  necessary 
to  add,  the  reprint  is  even  worse  than  the  original  issue. 

The  work  occupies  some  350  pages,  and  is  divided  into 
seventeen  chapters.  The  opening  six  treat  of  Religion 
in  general.  The  author  first  indicates  the  opposite  dan- 


NACHMAN  KROCHMAL  6r 

gers  to  which  men  are  liable.  On  the  one  hand,  men 
are  exposed  to  extravagant  phantasy  (Schwarmerei),  su- 
perstition and  ceremonialism  (  Werkheiligkeif).  Some,  on 
the  other  hand,  in  their  endeavour  to  avoid  this  danger, 
fall  into  the  opposite  extreme,  materialism,  unbelief,  and 
moral  degeneracy  as  a  consequence  of  their  neglect  of 
all  law.  He  proceeds  to  say :  Even  in  the  ritual  part 
of  religion,  such  as  the  regulations  of  the  Sabbath,  the 
dietary  laws  and  so  forth,  we  find  abstract  definitions 
necessary,  and  differences  of  opinions  prevalent.  In  the 
dogmatic  aspects  of  religion,  dealing  as  they  do  with  the 
grave  subjects  of  metaphysics,  the  mystery  of  life  and 
death,  the  destiny  of  man,  his  relation  to  God,  reward 
and  punishment,  the  inner  meaning  of  the  laws,  —  in 
these  spiritual  matters,  the  difficulty  of  accurate  defini- 
tion must  be  far  greater  and  the  opportunities  for  differ- 
ence of  opinion  more  frequent  and  important.  What 
guide  are  we  to  follow,  seeing  that  every  error  involves 
the  most  dangerous  consequences  ?  Shall  we  abandon 
altogether  the  effort  of  thinking  on  these  grave  subjects  ? 
Such  a  course  is  impossible.  Do  not  believe,  says  Kroch- 
mal,  that  there  ever  was  a  time  when  the  religious  man 
was  entirely  satisfied  by  deeds  of  righteousness,  as  some 
people  maintain.  On  the  contrary,  every  man,  whether 
an  independent  thinker  or  a  simple  believer,  always  feels 
the  weight  of  these  questions  upon  him.  Every  man 
desires  to  have  some  ideal  basis  for  his  actions  which 
must  constitute  his  real  life  in  its  noblest  moments. 
Krochmal  here  quotes  a  famous  passage  from  the  Mid- 
rash.14  The  Torah,  according  to  one  of  our  ancient  sages, 
may  be  compared  to  two  paths,  the  one  burning  with  fire, 
the  other  covered  with  snow.  If  a  man  enters  on  the 


62  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

former  path  he  will  die  by  the  heat;  if  he  walks  by  the 
latter  path  he  will  be  frozen  by  the  snow.  What,  then, 
must  he  do  ?  He  must  walk  in  the  middle,  or,  as  we 
should  say,  he  must  choose  the  golden  mean.  But,  as 
Krochmal  suggests,  the  middle  way  in  historical  and 
philosophical  doubts  does  not  consist,  as  some  idle  heads 
suppose,  in  a  kind  of  compromise  between  two  opposing 
views.  If  one  of  two  contending  parties  declares  that 
twice  two  make  six,  while  his  opponent  asserts  that  twice 
two  make  eight,  a  sort  of  compromise  might  be  arrived 
at  by  conceding  that  twice  two  make  seven.  But  such 
a  compromise  would  be  as  false  as  either  extreme ;  and 
the  seeker  after  the  truth  must  revert  to  that  mean 
which  is  the  heart  of  all  things,  independently  of  all 
factions,  placing  himself  above  them. 

Having  dealt  with  the  arguments  relating  to  the  exist- 
ence of  God  as  elaborated  in  the  philosophical  systems 
of  his  time,  Krochmal  leads  up  to  his  treatment  of  the 
History  of  Israel  by  a  chapter  on  the  ideal  gifts  be- 
stowed upon  the  various  ancient  nations,  which,  possessed 
by  them  through  many  centuries,  were  lost  when  their 
nationality  ceased.  We  next  come,  in  Chapter  VII.,  to 
the  ideal  gifts  of  Israel.  These  are  the  religious  gift 
and  the  faculty  and  desire  for  seeking  the  ideal  of  all 
ideals,  namely,  God.  But  Israel,  whose  mission  it  was 
to  propagate  this  ideal,  was,  even  as  other  nations,  sub- 
ject to  natural  laws ;  and  its  history  presents  progress 
and  reaction,  rise  and  decline.  Krochmal  devotes  his 
next  three  chapters  to  showing  how,  in  the  history  of 
Israel,  as  in  other  histories,  may  be  detected  a  triple 
process.  These  three  stages  are  the  budding,  the  period 
of  maturity,  and  the  decay.  As  the  history  of  Israel  is 


NACHMAN  KROCHMAL  63 

more  a  history  of  religion  than  of  politics  and  battles, 
its  rise  and  decline  correspond  more  or  less  with  Israel's 
attachment  to  God,  and  its  falling  away  from  Him.  The 
decay  would  be  associated  with  the  adoption  of  either  of 
the  extremes,  the  dangerous  effects  of  which  have  been 
already  mentioned.  But  "through  progress  and  back- 
sliding, amid  infectious  contact  with  idolatry,  amid  sur- 
vival of  old  growths  of  superstition,  of  the  crude  practices 
of  the  past ;  amid  the  solicitation  of  new  aspects  of  life ; 
in  material  prosperity  and  in  material  ruin,"  Israel  was 
never  wholly  detached  from  God.  In  the  worst  times  it 
had  its  judges  or  its  prophets,  its  heroes  or  its  sages,  its 
Rabbis  or  its  philosophers,  who  strove  to  bring  Israel 
back  to  its  mission,  and  who  succeeded  in  their  efforts 
to  do  so.  Even  in  its  decay  traces  of  the  Divine  spirit 
made  themselves  felt,  and  revived  the  nation,  which  en- 
tered again  on  a  triple  course  and  repeated  its  three 
phases.  The  first  of  these  three-fold  epochs  began,  ac- 
cording to  Krochmars  eighth  chapter,  with  the  times  of 
the  Patriarchs,  and  ended  with  the  death  of  Gedaliah  after 
the  destruction  of  the  first  Temple.  Next,  in  the  follow- 
ing two  chapters,  Krochmal  finds  the  second  triple  move- 
ment in  the  interval  between  the  prophets  of  the  exile 
in  Babylon  and  the  death  of  Bar-Cochba  about  135  A.C. 
The  author  also  hints  at  the  existence  of  a  third  such 
epoch  beginning  with  R.  Judah  the  Patriarch,  the  com- 
piler of  the  Mishnah  (220  A.c.),15  and  ending  with  the 
expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  Spain  (1492).  This  idea  is 
not  further  developed  by  Krochmal ;  but  it  would  be 
interesting  to  ask,  by  the  way,  in  which  phase  of  the 
three-fold  process  —  rise,  maturity,  or  decay  —  are  we  at 
the  present  time? 


64  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

The  next  five  chapters  may  be  regarded  as  an  excursus 
on  the  preceding  two.  Krochmal  discusses  the  Biblical 
books  which  belong  to  the  period  of  the  Exile  and  of  the 
Second  Temple,  such  as  the  Second  Isaiah,  certain  Exilic 
and  Maccabean  psalms,  Ecclesiastes,  certain  Apocryphal 
books,  and  the  work  of  the  Men  of  the  Great  Synagogue. 
They  contain,  again,  researches  on  the  various  sects,  such 
as  the  Assideans,  Sadducees,  Pharisees,  Essenes,  the  Gnos- 
tics, the  Cabbalists  and  their  relation  to  the  latter,  and 
the  Minim,16  who  are  mentioned  in  the  Talmud.  In  an- 
other part  of  this  excursus  Krochmal  describes  the  sys- 
tems of  the  Alexandrian  Jewish  philosophers,  such  as 
Philo  and  Aristobulus,  and  discusses  their  relation  to 
certain  theosophic  ideas  in  various  Midrash-collections. 
The  author  also  attempts  to  prove  the  necessity  of  Tradi- 
tion ;  he  shows  its  first  traces  in  the  Bible,  and  explains 
the  term  Sopherim  (scribes) ;  and  he  points  out  the 
meaning  of  the  phrase  "A  law  unto  Moses  from  Mount 
Sinai,"  17  and  similar  expressions.  He  gives  a  summary 
of  the  development  of  the  Halachah  in  its  different  stages, 
the  criteria  by  which  the  older  Halachahs  may  be  dis- 
criminated ;  he  seeks  to  arrive  at  the  origin  of  the  Mish- 
nah,  and  deals  with  various  cognate  topics.  In  another 
discourse  Krochmal  endeavours  to  explain  the  term  Aga- 
dah,18  its  origin  and  development ;  the  different  kinds  of 
Agadah  and  their  relative  value.  Chapter  XVI.  contains 
the  Prolegomena  to  a  philosophy  of  the  Jewish  religion  in 
accordance  with  the  principles  laid  down  by  Hegel.  In 
the  seventeenth  and  last  chapter  the  author  gives  a  gen- 
eral introduction  to  the  Philosophy  of  Ibn  Ezra,  and  quotes 
illustrative  extracts. 

The   space  of   an   essay  does   not  permit   me  to   give 


NACHMAN  KROCHMAL  65 

further  details  of  Krochmal's  book.  I  am  conscious  that 
the  preceding  outline  is  deficient  in  quality  as  well  as  in 
quantity.  Yet,  even  from  this  meagre  abstract,  the  reader 
will  gather  that  Krochmal  reviews  many  of  the  great 
problems  which  concern  religion  in  general  and  Judaism 
in  particular.  Zunz  somewhere  remarks  that  Krochmal 
was  inspired  in  his  work  by  the  study  of  Hegel,  just  as 
Maimonides  had  been  by  the  study  of  Aristotle.  I  give 
this  statement  solely  on  the  authority  of  Zunz,  as  I  myself 
have  never  made  a  study  of  the  works  of  the  German 
philosopher,  and  am  therefore  unable  to  express  an  opin- 
ion on  the  question. 

Now  there  is  no  doubt  that  Krochmal's  book  is  not 
without  defects.  The  materials  are  not  always  well 
arranged,  there  is  at  times  a  want  of  proportion  in  the 
length  at  which  the  various  points  are  treated,  and  the 
author  occasionally  seems  to  wander  from  the  subject 
in  hand.  But  we  shall  be  better  able  to  account  for  these 
and  similar  technical  faults,  as  well  as  to  appreciate  the 
real  value  of  the  author's  work,  if  we  consider  the  fol- 
lowing fact.  Nachman  Krochmal's  object  was  to  elabo- 
rate a  philosophy  of  Jewish  history,  to  trace  the  leading 
ideas  that  ran  through  it,  and  the  ultimate  causes  that  led 
to  its  various  phases.  But,  unfortunately,  at  the  time 
when  Krochmal  began  to  write,  there  did  not  exist  a 
Jewish  history  at  all.  The  labours  of  Zunz  were  con- 
ducted in  an  altogether  different  field.  Not  to  mention 
the  names  of  the  younger  scholars  then  unborn,  Graetz, 
the  author  of  the  History  of  the  Jews,  and  Weiss,  who 
wrote  a  history  of  the  Tradition,  were  still  studying  at 
college.  Frankel's  masterly  essays  on  the  Essenes  and 
the  Septuagint,  his  well-known  work,  Introduction  to  the 


66  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Mishnah,  and  the  results  of  Geiger's  most  interesting  and 
suggestive  researches  on  the  older  and  later  Halachah, 
and  on  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees,  had  yet  to  be  written. 
Rapoport's  great  treatise,  Erech  Milling  had  not  been 
published  at  that  time,  and  Steinschneider  was  not  yet 
working  at  his  historical  sketch  of  Jewish  literature.  It 
was  not  till  six  years  after  Krochmal's  death  (viz.  in  1846) 
that  Landauer's  memorable  studies  on  the  Jewish  mystics 
were  given  to  the  world.  Even  the  bad  books  of  Julius 
Fiirst,  such  as  his  History  of  the  Canon,  and  his  still  worse 
History  of  Jewish  Literature  in  Babylon,  were  then  un- 
written. Neither  the  most  charlatanic  History  of  the 
Opinions  and  Teachings  of  All  the  Jewish  Sects,  by  Peter 
Beer,  the  universal  provider,  nor  Jost's  most  honest  but 
narrow-minded  and  superficial  History  of  the  Jews,  was 
of  much  use  to  Krochmal.  Jost's  more  scholarly  works 
were  not  published  till  long  afterwards.  ^  Krochmal  was 
thus  without  the  guidance  of  those  authorities  to  which 
we  are  now  accustomed  to  turn  for  information.  Except- 
ing the  aid  that  he  derived  from  the  writings  of  Azariah 
de  Rossi,20  Krochmal  was  therefore  compelled  to  prose- 
cute all  the  necessary  research  for  himself ;  he  had  to 
establish  the  facts  of  Jewish  history  as  well  as  to  philoso- 
phise upon  them.  Hence,  in  the  very  midst  of  his  philo- 
sophical analysis,  the  author  was  bound  to  introduce 
digressions  on  historical  subjects,  in  order  to  justify  as 
well  as  to  form  the  basis  of  that  analysis.  He  had  to 
survey  the  ground  and  to  collect  the  materials,  besides 
constructing  the  plan  of  the  edifice  and  working  at  its 
erection.  Nevertheless,  it  is  precisely  for  these  historical 
excursuses  that  Krochmal  has  deserved  the  gratitude  of 
posterity.  .  He  it  was  who  taught  Jewish  scholars  how  to 


NACHMAN  KROCHMAL  67 

submit  the  ancient  Rabbinic  records  to  the  test  of  criti- 
cism and  the  way  in  which  they  might  be  utilised  for  the 
purpose  of  historical  studies ;  he  it  was  who  enabled  them 
to  trace  the  genesis  of  the  tradition,  and  to  watch  the 
inner  germination  of  that  vast  organism.  He  even  indi- 
cated to  them  how  they  might  continue  to  connect  their 
own  lives  with  it,  how  they  might  derive  nourishment  from 
it,  and  in  their  turn  further  its  growth.  I  may  assert  with 
the  utmost  confidence  that  there  is  scarcely  a  single  page 
in  Krochmal's  book  that  did  not  afterwards  give  birth 
to  some  essay  or  monograph  or  even  elaborate  treatise, 
tjhough  their  authors  were  not  always  very  careful  about 
mentioning  the  source  of  their  inspiration.  Thus  Kroch- 
mal  justly  deserves  the  honourable  title  assigned  to  him 
by  one  of  our  greatest  historians,  who  terms  him  the 
Father  of  Jewish  Science. 

So  far,  I  have  been  speaking  of  the  importance  of 
Krochmal's  treatise  and  of  its  significance  in  the  region 
of  Jewish  Science.  It  is  necessary,  I  think,  to  add  a 
few  words  with  regard  to  the  general  tendency  of  his 
whole  work.  I  have  already  alluded  to  the  characteristic 
modesty  of  Krochmal ;  I  have  pointed  out  how  little  he 
cared  for  publicity,  how  dearly  he  loved  retirement.  The 
question  accordingly  presents  itself  —  What  can  have 
been  the  real  and  sufficient  causes  that  prevailed  upon 
him  to  yield  to  the  solicitations  of  his  friends  and  to  write 
upon  what  the  Talmud  would  term  "  matters  standing  on 
the  heights  of  the  world  "  ? 

The  answer  to  this  question  may,  I  think,  be  found  in 
the  title  of  Krochmal's  book,  the  Guide  of  the  Perplexed 
of  the  Time.  It  is  indeed  a  rather  unusual  coincidence 
for  the  title  of  a  Hebrew  book  to  have  any  connection 


68  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

with  its  subject  matter.  The  same  merit  is  possessed 
by  the  Guide  of  the  Perplexed  of  Maimonides,  the  title 
of  which  undoubtedly  suggested  that  of  Krochmal's 
treatise.  There  is,  however,  one  little  addition  in 
Krochmal's  title  that  contains  a  most  important  lesson 
for  us.  I  mean  the  words  "  of  the  Time."  By  these 
words  Krochmal  reminds  us  that,  great  as  are  the  merits 
of  the  immortal  work  of  Maimonides  —  and  it  would  be 
difficult  to  exaggerate  its  value  and  importance  —  still  it 
will  no  longer  suffice  for  us.  For,  as  Krochmal  himself 
remarks,  every  time  has  its  own  perplexities,  and  there- 
fore needs  its  own  guide.  In  order  to  show  that  these 
words  are  no  idle  phrase,  I  shall  endeavour  to  illustrate 
them  by  one  example  at  least.  In  the  Guide  of  the 
Perplexed  of  Maimonides,  Part  II.,  Chapter  XXVI., 
occurs  a  passage  which  runs  thus :  "  In  the  famous 
chapters  known  as  the  '  Chapters  of  R.  Eliezer  the 
Great,'21  I  find  R.  Eliezer  the  Great  saying  something 
more  extraordinary  than  I  have  ever  seen  in  the  utter- 
ances of  any  believer  in  the  Law  of  Moses.  I  refer 
to  the  following  passage :  '  Whence  were  the  heavens 
created?  He  (God)  took  part  of  the  light  of  His  gar- 
ment, He  stretched  it  like  a  cloth,  and  thus  the  heavens 
were  extending  continually,  as  it  is  said  (Ps.  civ.  2) : 
He  covereth  Himself  with  light  as  with  a  garment,  He 
stretcheth  the  heavens  like  a  curtain.  Whence  was 
the  earth  created  ?  He  took  of  the  snow  under  the 
throne  of  glory,  and  threw  it ;  according  to  the  words 
(in  Job  xxxvii.  6),  He  said  to  the  snow  be  thou  earth.' 
These  are  the  words  given  there  (in  the  '  Chapters  of 
R.  Eliezer  the  Great'),  and  I,  in  my  surprise,  ask,  What 
was  the  belief  of  this  sage  ?  Did  he  think  it  impossible 


NACHMAN  KROCHMAL  fig 

that  something  be  produced  from  nothing?  ...  If  the 
terms  '  the  light  of  His  garment '  and  the  '  snow  of 
glory '  mean  something  eternal  (as  matter)  they  must 
be  rejected.  ...  In  short,  it  is  a  passage  that  greatly 
confuses  the  notions  of  all  intelligent  and  religious  per- 
sons. I  am  unable  to  explain  it  sufficiently." 

So  far  Maimonides ;  and  we  are  quite  able  to  conceive 
his  perplexity  in  dealing  with  this  passage.  On  one  side, 
Maimonides  himself  believed  that  Judaism  is  a  dogmatic 
religion,  and  that  one  of  its  dogmas  is  the  principle  of 
Creatio  ex  nihilo.  On  the  other  side,  he  found  R.  Eliezer 
—  one  of  the  greatest  authorities  of  the  early  part  of  the 
second  century  —  apparently  denying  this  dogma.  The 
perplexity  was  indeed  a  serious  one  for  Maimonides,  but 
we  find  no  difficulty  whatever  in  extricating  ourselves  from 
it.  In  the  first  place,  there  are  many  who  cling  to  the 
theory  which  holds  that  there  are  no  dogmas  in  Judaism 
at  all,  and  to  them  Maimonides'  difficulty  would  have  no 
relevance.  Secondly,  those  who  believe  that  there  are 
dogmas  in  Judaism  may  regard  such  expressions  as  those 
quoted  above  from  the  "Chapters  of  R.  Eliezer"  in  the 
light  of  mere  poetical  metaphors,  or  may  call  them  fairy 
tales  or  legends,  or  include  them  in  some  other  section  of 
literature,  known  under  the  name  of  folklore,  which  is  an 
excuse  for  every  absurdity,  the  fortunate  authors  of  which 
are  responsible  neither  to  philosophy  nor  to  religion,  and 
sometimes  not  even  to  common  sense.  But  there  is  a 
third  consideration  that  affords  the  best  solution  of  the 
difficulty.  The  "Chapters  of  R.  Eliezer,"  despite  their 
pompous  title,  are  not  the  work  of  R.  Eliezer  at  all. 
Criticism  has  taught  us  to  attach  no  importance  to  the 
heading  of  a  chapter  or  the  title-page  of  a  book.  We  are 


^o  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

now  in  a  position  to  judge  from  the  tone,  style,  and  con- 
tents of  the  work,  that  the  "  Chapters  of  R.  Eliezer  "  is  a 
later  compilation  of  the  eighth  century,  and  that  its  author 
could  not  have  been  R.  Eliezer,  the  teacher  of  R.  Akiba, 
in  the  second  century.  In  this  way,  these  particular  diffi- 
culties of  Maimonides  solve  themselves  for  us  in  a  suffi- 
ciently easy  way.  But  it  is  just  these  solutions  that  open 
up  new  difficulties  and  perplexities  which  did  not  exist  for 
the  generation  of  the  great  Spanish  philosopher.  Sup- 
pose that  we  accept  the  view  that  Judaism  is  not  a  dog- 
matic religion.  But  how  are  we  to  conceive  a  religion 
without  dogmas,  or,  if  you  prefer  the  expression,  without 
principles  or  bases  of  belief  ?  Or  is  Judaism,  as  some 
platitudinarians  think,  a  mere  national  institute  with  some 
useful  dietary  and  sanitary  laws,  but  with  nothing  that 
makes  for  the  sanctification  of  man,  with  no  guidance  to 
offer  us  in  the  great  problems  of  our  life,  and  in  the  great- 
est anxieties  of  the  human  soul?  On  the  other  hand, 
granted  that  we  may  consider  certain  things  as  mere  le- 
gend, how  are  we  to  discriminate  between  these  and  the 
things  that  must  be  taken  seriously  ?  Does  it  depend  on 
the  nature  of  the  subject,  or  on  the  position  of  the  book  in 
the  canon  of  Hebrew  literature  ?  In  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury symbolical  meanings  were  given  to  certain  difficult 
passages  in  the  Talmud ;  but  the  process  was  carried 
further,  and  the  Biblical  narratives  were  subjected  by  phi- 
losophers to  a  like  treatment.  R.  Solomon  ben  Adereth 
and  his  colleagues  (in  the  thirteenth  century)  settled  the 
question  by  indiscriminately  excommunicating  all  young 
men  who  should  study  philosophy ;  but  this  method  is 
scarcely  one  to  be  commended  for  present  use. 

The   third,  or  the  philological    solution    of    difficulties, 


NACHMAN  KROCHMAL  ji 

leads  to  fresh  troubles.  A  hundred  years  ago  men  were 
in  that  happy  state  of  mind  in  which  they  knew  every- 
thing. They  knew  the  exact  author  and  date  of  every 
Psalm ;  they  knew  the  author  of  each  and  every  ancient 
Midrash ;  they  knew  the  originator  of  every  law  and  ordi- 
nance ;  they  even  knew  the  writer  of  the  Zohar,  and  of 
other  mystical  books.  There  were  certainly  a  few  who 
did  not  know  all  these  things,  among  them  Ibn  Ezra, 
Azariah  de  Rossi,  and  the  two  Delmedigos.22  But  they  were 
merely  a  miserable  historical  blunder,  men  who  had  no 
right  to  be  born  when  they  were.  But  the  philological 
method  has  swept  away  all  this  knowingness  as  by  a 
deluge  from  heaven,  and  men  find  that  they  know  nothing. 
True,  there  linger  on  a  few  who  still  know  all  these  things, 
but  it  is  they  who  are  now  the  anachronism.  These,  and 
such  as  these,  are  the  perplexities  of  our  time,  to  the  res- 
olution of  which  the  labours  of  Krochmal  and  of  a  noble 
band  of  scholars  have  been  directed  in  this  century. 

Have  these  perplexities,  we  must  ask,  and  these  puz- 
zles been  solved  by  Krochmal  and  his  coadjutors  ?  We 
may  with  all  certainty  answer :  They  have  only  pointed  out 
the  way,  it  is  for  ourselves  to  proceed  by  it.  It  would  be 
unreasonable  to  expect  that  difficulties  which  have  been 
accumulating  during  the  course  of  thousands  of  years 
should  be  solved  by  the  men  of  one  or  two  generations. 
Again,  we  live  in  a  century  in  which  excavations  and  dis- 
coveries in  other  fields  have  added  at  once  to  our  know- 
ledge and  to  our  uncertainty.  Each  country,  we  might 
almost  say,  over  and  above  the  perplexities  that  trouble 
mankind  in  general,  has  its  own  special  difficulties  which 
are  entirely  unknown  to  those  who  dwell  outside  its 
frontiers.  I  am  not  disposed  to  discuss  these  difficulties 


72  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

in  this  place.  Nor  have  I  the  ability  to  do  so.  But  of 
two  things  I  am  perfectly  certain :  the  first  is,  that  for  a 
solution  of  these  difficulties  which,  in  the  language  of 
Maimonides,  "confuse  the  notions  of  all  intelligent  and 
religious  persons,"  the  only  hope  is  in  true  knowledge  and 
not  in  ignorance;  and  secondly,  this  knowledge  can  only 
be  obtained  by  a  combination  of  the  utmost  reverence  for 
religion  and  the  deepest  devotion  to  truth.  The  poor  old 
Rabbis  who  have  been  so  foully  decried  by  their  calumni- 
ators as  hedonists,  and  so  foolishly  praised  by  sorry  apolo- 
gists as  materialistic  optimists,  strongly  insisted  that  when 
a  man  woos  the  truth,  his  suit  can  only  prosper  if  he  is 
influenced  by  the  purest  and  most  single-hearted  affection. 
"  A  man,"  says  the  Siphre,  "  must  not  say  :  '  I  will  study 
the  Torah  in  order  that  I  may  attain  the  title  of  Rabbi  or 
savant,  or  that  I  may  become  rich  by  it,  or  that  I  may  be 
rewarded  for  it  in  the  world  to  come.'  He  must  study  for 
love's  sake."  Such  a  knowledge,  which  is  free  from  all 
taint  of  worldliness  and  of  other-worldliness,  a  knowledge 
sought  simply  and  solely  for  pure  love  of  God,  who  is 
Truth,  —  such  a  knowledge  is  in  the  highest  sense  a  sav- 
ing knowledge,  and  Nachman  Krochmal  was  in  possession 
of  it. 


Of  Tilt 

ER 

or 


III 
RABBI    ELIJAH   WILNA,    GAON 

THE  three  great  stars  of  German  literature  are  usually 
characterised  by  German  scholars  in  the  following  way : 
Goethe  they  say  represents  the  beautiful,  Schiller  the 
ideal,  while  Lessing  represents  truth.  I  think  that  we 
may  apply  the  same  characteristics  to  the  three  great 
luminaries,  with  which  the  Jewish  middle  ages  ceased  — 
for  as  Zunz  somewhere  remarked,  the  Jewish  middle  ages 
lasted  till  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  —  and 
the  modern  age  of  Judaism  opened.  I  am  thinking  of 
Mendelssohn  in  Germany,  Israel  Baalshem,  the  founder  of 
the  sect  of  the  Chassidim  in  Podolia,  and  Elijah  Wilna,  or 
as  he  is  more  frequently  called,  the  Gaon,1  the  Great  One, 
in  Lithuania. 

As  to  Mendelssohn,  enough,  and  perhaps  more  than 
enough,  has  already  been  written  and  spoken  about  his 
merits  in  awakening  the  sense  for  the  beautiful  and  the 
harmonious  which  was  almost  entirely  dormant  among  the 
Jews  of  his  age.  '  In  regard  to  the  second,  namely,  Israel 
Baalshem,  I  have  only  to  refer  the  reader  to  the  first  essay 
in  this  volume.  The  subject  of  the  present  essay  will  be 
R.  Elijah  Wilna,  who,  among  the  Jews,  as  Lessing  among 
the  Germans,  represented  truth,  both  by  his  life  and  by 
his  literary  activity. 

73 


74  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

I  say  that  the  Gaon  represented  truth,  but  these  words 
must  be  taken  cumgrano  salts.  For  I  do  not  mean  at  all  to 
say  that  he  was  in  possession  of  the  whole  truth,  still  less 
in  exclusive  possession  of  it.  It  is  true  as  we  shall  learn 
in  the  course  of  this  essay,  that  the  Gaon  was  a  genius  of 
the  first  order.  But  there  are  matters  of  truth,  the  obtain- 
ing of  which  cannot  be  accomplished  by  genius  alone. 
R.  Elijah  Wilna  did  not  know  any  other  language  than 
Hebrew.  Truths,  therefore,  which  are  only  to  be  reached 
through  the  medium  of  other  languages,  remained  a  secret 
to  him.  Again,  records  of  ancient  times  which  are  buried 
in  the  shelves  of  remote  libraries  or  under  the  ruins  of 
past  civilisations  are  not  always  a  matter  of  intuition. 
Even  the  most  gifted  of  men  have  to  wait  patiently  till 
these  are  brought  to  light  by  the  aid  of  spade  and  shovel, 
or  the  pen  of  some  obscure  copyist.  But  R.  Elijah  lived 
at  a  time  when  excavation  had  as  yet  done  very  little  for 
Semitic  studies,  and  when  a  Jew  scarcely  got  admittance 
into  the  great  libraries  of  Europe.  Thus  much  truth 
which  we  get  now  in  a  very  easy  way  was  beyond  this 
seer's  eye. 

But  even  if  all  the  libraries  on  earth  had  been  at  his  dis- 
posal, even  if  he  had  read  all  the  cuneiform  writings  which 
ornament  the  British  Museum,  and  had  deciphered  all  the 
Hieroglyphics  which  the  Louvre  possesses,  even  in  that 
case  we  should  not  be  justified  in  terming  him  a  represent- 
ative of  the  truth,  without  qualifying  our  words. 

"  Truth,"  said  the  old  Rabbis,  "  is  the  Seal  of  the  Holy 
One,  praised  be  He."  But  Heaven  has  no  Lord  Chancel- 
lor. Neither  men  nor  angels  are  trusted  with  the  great 
Seal.  They  are  only  allowed  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  it,  or 
rather  to  long  after  this  glimpse.  However,  even  the 


ELIJAH   WILNA  73 

longing  and  effort  for  this  glimpse  will  bring  man  into 
communion  with  God,  and  make  his  life  divine.  And  the 
life  of  the  Gaon  was,  as  we  shall  see,  one  long  effort  and 
unceasing  longing  after  the  truth. 

Again,  if  I  say  that  the  Gaon  represented  truth,  you 
must  not  think  that  he  lacked  the  two  other  qualities.  A 
life  entirely  devoted  to  such  a  great  cause  as  that  of  seek- 
ing the  truth  is,  ipso  facto,  ideal  and  harmonious.  It  is 
only  in  his  influence  on  Judaism  —  more  particularly  on 
the  Jews  in  the  North  of  Europe  —  that  this  feature  in  his 
life  becomes  more  prominent  than  his  other  admirable 
qualities. 

In  what  this  truth  consisted,  how  the  Gaon  arrived  at  it, 
and  by  what  means  he  conveyed  it  to  others,  we  shall  see 
in  the  course  of  this  essay. 

R.  Elijah  was  born  at  Wilna  in  the  year  1720.  His 
father,  Solomon  Wilna,  is  called  by  his  biographers  the 
great  Rabbi  Solomon,  and  is  said  to  have  been  the  de- 
scendant of  R.  Moses  Rivkas,  the  author  of  a  learned 
work,  containing  notes  to  the  Code  of  the  Law  by  R. 
Joseph  Caro.2 

Having  quoted  the  biographers,  I  must  point  out  that 
there  are  only  two  biographies  of  the  Gaon :  the  one  by 
Finn,  in  his  book  Faithful  City?  on  the  celebrities  of 
Wilna,  the  other  by  Nachman  of  Horodna,  in  his  book 
Ascension  of  Elijah.^  The  former  is  a  very  honest  account 
of  the  Gaon's  life,  but  a  little  too  short.  The  latter  is  too 
long,  or  rather  too  much  intermixed  with  that  sort  of 
absurd  legend,  the  authors  of  which  are  incapable  of  mark- 
ing the  line  which  separates  the  monster  from  the  hero. 

Even  in  the  region  of  imagination  we  must  not  for  a 
moment  forget  the  good  advice  given  to  us  by  one  of  our 


76  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

greatest  scholars  who  had  to  deal  with  a  kindred  subject : 
"  He,"  says  this  scholar,  "  who  banishes  the  thought  of 
higher  and  lower  from  his  study,  degrades  it  into  a  mere 
means  of  gratifying  his  curiosity,  and  disqualifies  it  for  the 
lofty  task  which  it  is  called  upon  to  perform  for  modern 
society."  We  shall  thus  cling  to  the  higher  and  stop  at 
the  hero. 

Our  hero  was  the  first-born  of  five  brothers.  They 
were  all  famous  men  in  their  little  world.  According  to 
the  tradition  in  Wilna,  Elijah  was  a  lovely  child,  with 
beautiful  eyes,  and  goodly  to  look  at,  or  as  it  is  expressed 
in  another  place,  "  as  beautiful  as  an  angel !  "  The  tradi- 
tion, or  rather  the  legend,  relates  that  as  a  child  of  six 
years  he  was  already  the  pupil  of  R.  Moses  Margalith,  the 
famous  author  of  a  commentary  on  the  Talmud  of  Jerusa- 
lem. At  the  age  of  seven  years  he  is  said  to  have  already 
perplexed  the  Chief  Rabbi  of  his  native  town  by  his  con- 
troversial skill  in  Talmudical  subjects.  At  the  early  age 
of  nine  he  was  acquainted  with  the  contents  of  the  Bible, 
the  Mishnah,  the  Talmud  and  its  ancient  commentaries ; 
and  even  the  Cabbalistic  works  of  R.  Isaac  Loria  were  no 
secret  to  the  youthful  scholar.5  At  the  age  of  twelve  years 
he  is  said  to  have  acquired  the  seven  liberal  arts,  and  to 
have  puzzled  the  scholars  of  Wilna  by  his  astronomical 
knowledge.  At  thirteen,  when  according  to  Jewish  law  he 
attained  his  majority,  he  was  already  the  accomplished  or 
"  the  great  one  "  (Gaon) ;  so  far  tradition.  I  am  afraid  that 
tradition  is  here,  against  all  experience,  too  exact  in  its 
dates.  But  we  may  learn  from  it  that  the  child  Elijah 
showed  many  signs  of  the  future  Gaon,  and  was  therefore 
considered  as  the  prodigy  of  his  age.  Again  it  is  likewise 
pretty  certain  that  no  man  could  boast  of  having  been  the 


ELIJAH    WILNA  77 

master  of  Elijah.  He  was  not  the  product  of  any  school, 
nor  was  he  biassed  by  the  many  prejudices  of  his  time. 
He  was  allowed  to  walk  his  own  way  in  his  struggle  after 
truth. 

It  is  rather  an  unfortunate  thing  that  history  is  so  much 
made  up  of  parallels  and  contrasts  that  the  historian  or 
even  the  biographer  cannot  possibly  point  out  the  great- 
ness of  some  men  without  touching,  however  slightly,  on 
the  smallness  of  others.  It  is  only  natural  that  every 
strong  shining  object  should  push  the  minor  lights  of  its 
surroundings  into  the  background  and  darken  them. 
Thus,  when  we  are  speaking  of  the  superiority  of  the 
Gaon,  we  cannot  escape  hinting  at  least  at  the  shortcom- 
ings of  his  contemporaries,  as  well  as  of  his  predeces- 
sors. 

To  indicate  briefly  in  what  this  superiority  consisted,  I 
will  premise  here  a  few  words  from  a  Responsum  by  one 
of  his  great  predecessors,  the  Gaon  Rabbi  Hai.6  Con- 
sulted by  a  student  as  to  the  meaning  of  certain  mystical 
passages  in  the  tractate  Chagigah?  Rabbi  Hai,  in  warning 
his  correspondent  not  to  expect  from  him  a  long  philosoph- 
ical dissertation,  writes  as  follows  :  "  Know  that  it  never 
was  our  business  to  palliate  matters  and  explain  them  in  a 
way  of  which  the  author  never  could  have  thought.  This 
is  fashionable  with  other  people,  but  our  method  is  to 
explain  the  words  of  this  or  that  authority  in  accordance 
with  his  own  meaning.  We  do  not  pledge  ourselves  that 
this  meaning  is  'right  rule'  in  itself,  for  there  do  exist 
statements  made  by  the  old  authorities  that  cannot  be  ac- 
cepted as  norm."  Thus  far  the  words  of  the  Gaon  of  the 
tenth  century,  which  speak  volumes.  The  Gaon  of  the 
eighteenth  century  followed  the  same  course.  All  his 


78  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

efforts  were  directed  to  this  point;  namely,  to  find  out 
the  true  meaning  of  the  Mishnah,  the  true  meaning  of 
the  Gemara,8  the  true  meaning  of  the  Gaonim,  the  true 
meaning  of  the  great  codifiers,  and  the  true  meaning,  of 
the  commentators  on  the  ancient  Rabbinical  literature. 
Whether  this  meaning  would  be  acceptable  to  us  mattered 
very  little  to  him.  His  only  object  was  to  understand 
the  words  of  his  predecessors,  and  this  he  obtained,  as 
we  shall  soon  see,  by  the  best  critical  means.  This  was 
the  method  of  the  Gaon ;  that  of  other  scholars  (at  least 
of  the  great  majority)  was  dictated  by  entirely  differ- 
ent considerations.  They  would  not  suffer  the  idea  that 
the  great  man  could  be  wrong  at  times.  To  them,  all  that 
he  said  was  "  right  rule."  Now  suppose  a  great  author 
like  Maimonides  had  overlooked  an  important  passage  in 
the  Talmud  or  any  other  statement  by  a  great  authority, 
the  alternative  remaining  to  them  was  either  to  explain 
away  the  passage  of  the  Talmud  or  to  give  the  words  of 
Maimonides  a  strange  meaning.  This  led  originally  to 
the  famous  method  of  the  Pilpul  (casuistry),  a  kind  of 
spiritual  gymnastic,  which  R.  Liva  of  Prague  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  many  others  condemned  as  most  per- 
nicious to  Judaism  and  leading  to  the  decay  of  the  study 
of  the  Torah. 

Now  it  is  beyond  doubt  that  the  method  of  the  two 
Gaonim  is  the  only  right  one.  But,  in  justice  to  the 
casuistic  school,  which  includes  many  a  great  name,  it  is 
only  right  to  remember  that  this  impartiality  towards  ac- 
knowledged authorities  as  maintained  by  our  hero  is  not  at 
all  such  an  easy  matter  as  we  imagine-  We  quote  often 
with  great  satisfaction  the  famous  saying,  Amicus  Plato, 
amicus  Socrates,  sed  magis  arnica  veritas,  "Plato  is  our 


ELIJAH   WILNA  79 

friend,  so  is  Socrates,  but  Truth  is,  or  rather  ought  to  be, 
our  greatest  friend."  This  sounds  very  nicely,  but  let  us 
only  realise  what  difficulties  it  involves.  To  be  a  friend  of 
Socrates  or  Plato  means  to  know  them,  or  in  other  words 
to  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  writings  of  the  one 
and  the  recorded  utterances  of  the  other.  But  such  a 
knowledge  can  with  most  men  only  be  obtained  by  devot- 
ing one's  whole  life  to  the  study  of  their  works,  so  that 
there  is  not  left  much  time  for  new  friendships.  And 
the  few  who  are  able  to  save  a  few  years  after  long  wan- 
derings with  these  Greek  philosophers,  seldom  see  the 
necessity  of  new  friendships.  For  what  else  did  those 
long  courtships  of  Plato  or  Aristotle  mean  except  that 
those  who  conducted  them  thought  that  thereby  they 
would  wed  Truth  ? 

This  impartiality  is  the  more  difficult  when  these  friends 
are  invested  with  a  kind  of  religious  authority  where 
humility  and  submission  are  most  important  factors.  The 
history  of  Lanfranc,  the  predecessor  of  Anselm  of  Can- 
terbury, gives  a  striking  example  of  what  this  submission 
meant  in  the  Middle  Ages.  One  day,  we  are  told,  when 
he  was  still  an  ordinary  monk,  he  was  reading  at  the 
table  and  pronounced  a  word  as  it  ought  to  be  pronounced, 
but  not  as  seemed  right  to  the  person  presiding,  who  bade 
him  say  it  differently ;  "  as  if  he  had  said  docere,  with  the 
middle  syllable  long,  as  is  right,  and  the  other  had  cor- 
rected it  into  docere,  with  the  middle  short,  which  is 
wrong;  for  that  Prior  was  not  a  scholar.  But  the  wise 
man,  knowing  that  he  owed  obedience  rather  to  Christ 
than  to  Donatus,  the  grammarian,  gave  up  his  pronunci- 
ation, and  said  what  he  was  wrongly  told  to  say ;  for  to 
make  a  short  syllable  long,  or  a  long  one  short,  he  knew 


g0  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

to  be  no  deadly  sin,  but  not  to  obey  one  set  over  him  in 
God's  behalf  was  no  light  transgression."9 

But  this  admiration  —  and  here  we  turn  again  to  the 
Gaon  —  must  not  prevent  us  from  believing  that  Provi- 
dence is  not  confined  to  such  ungrammatical  Priors,  and 
that  the  men  who  are  really  working  on  behalf  of  God 
are  those  who  teach  us  to  pronounce  rightly,  and  to  think 
rightly,  and  to  take  matters  as  they  are,  not  as  we  desire 
them  to  be  on  account  of  our  friends. 

As  for  the  critical  means  to  which  I  have  alluded,  the 
Gaon  himself  said  somewhere  that  simplicity  is  the  best 
criterion  of  truth,  and  this  is  the  most  characteristic  feat- 
ure of  all  his  literary  career.  The  Gaon  studied  Hebrew 
grammar  in  order  to  obtain  a  clear  notion  of  the  language 
in  which  the  Scriptures  are  written.  He  tried  to  attain 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  Bible  by  reading  the  Bible  itself ; 
and  was  not  satisfied  to  become  acquainted  with  its  con- 
tents from  the  numerous  quotations  which  are  made  from 
it  in  Rabbinical  literature.  Again,  he  studied  mathemat- 
ics, astronomy,  and  philosophy,  as  far  as  they  could  be 
found  in  Hebrew  books.  Certainly  the  Gaon  did  not 
study  these  subjects  for  their  own  sake,  and  they  were 
considered  by  him  only  as  a  means  to  the  end,  or  as  the 
phrase  goes,  as  the  "  hand-maidens "  of  Theology,  the 
queen  of  all  sciences.  But  it  may  be  looked  upon  as  a 
mark  of  great  progress  in  an  age  when  Queen  Theology 
had  become  rather  sulky,  continually  finding  fault  with 
her  hand-maidens,  and  stigmatising  every  attention  paid 
to  them  as  conducive  to  disloyalty.  To  these  accusa- 
tions the  Gaon  answered  that  Queen  Theology  does  not 
study  her  own  interests.  Knowledge  of  all  arts  and 
sciences,  the  Gaon  maintained,  is  necessary  for  the  real 


ELIJAH   WILNA  Si 

understanding  of  the  Torah  which  embraces  the  whole  of 
them.  From  his  own  writings  it  is  evident  that  he  him- 
self was  familiar  with  Euclid,  and  his  Ayil  Meshulash 
contains  several  original  developments  of  Euclid.  It  was 
at  his  suggestion  that  a  certain  Baruch  of  Sclow  trans- 
lated Euclid  into  the  Hebrew  language. 

Another  way  which  led  the  Gaon  to  the  discovery  of 
many  truths  was  his  study  of  the  pre-Talmudic  literature, 
and  of  the  Jerusalem  Talmud.  By  some  accident  or  other 
it  came  to  pass  that  only  the  Babylonian  Talmud  was 
recognised  as  a  guide  in  the  practices  of  religious  life. 
As  the  great  teachers  and  their  pupils  cared  more  for 
satisfying  the  religious  wants  of  their  flocks  than  for 
theoretic  researches,  the  consequence  was  that  a  most 
important  part  of  the  ancient  Rabbinic  literature  was 
almost  entirely  neglected  by  them  for  many  centuries. 
And  it  was  certainly  no  exaggeration,  when  R.  Elijah 
said  that  even  the  Gaonim  and  Maimonides,  occupied  as 
they  were  with  the  practical  part  of  the  law,  did  not  pay 
sufficient  attention  to  the  Talmud  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
Tosephta.10  The  Gaon  was  no  official  head  of  any  Jew- 
ish community,  and  was  but  little  troubled  by  decisions 
of  questions  which  concern  daily  life.  He  was  thus  in 
a  position  to  leave  for  a  little  while  the  Babylonian  Tal- 
mud and  to  become  acquainted  with  the  guides  of  the 
guide.  I  refer  to  Siphra,  Siphre,  Mechilta,  Tosephta, 
the  Seder  Olam,11  the  Minor  Tractates,12  and  above  all 
the  Talmud  of  Jerusalem,  which,  regarded  from  an  his- 
torical and  critical  point  of  view,  is  even  of  more  impor- 
tance than  its  Babylonian  twin-brother.  But  by  this  means 
there  came  a  new  light  upon  the  whole  of  ancient  Rab- 
binic literature.  The  words  of  the  Torah,  the  Midrash 


82  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

says,  are  poor  in  one  place,  but  we  shall  find  them  rich 
in  another  place.  The  Gaon  by  his  acquaintance  with 
the  whole  of  the  Torah  had  no  difficulty  whatever  in 
discovering  the  rich  places.  If  there  was  a  difficult  pas- 
sage in  this  or  that  Tractate,  he  showed,  by  giving  a 
reference  to  some  other  place,  that  it  was  wanting  in 
some  words  or  lines.  Obscure  passages  in  the  Mishnah 
he  tried  to  elucidate  by  parallel  passages  in  the  Tosephta. 
The  too  complicated  controversies  of  the  Babylonian  Tal- 
mud he  tried  to  explain  by  comparing  them  with  the 
more  ancient  and  more  simple  Talmud  of  Jerusalem. 

There  is  little  to  be  told  of  the  Gaon's  private  affairs. 
Even  the  date  of  his  marriage  with  a  certain  Miss  Anna 
of  Kaidon  is  not  mentioned  by  his  biographers.  But  it 
may  be  taken  for  granted  that,  in  accordance  with  the 
custom  in  Poland,  he  married  at  a  very  early  age,  say 
about  eighteen  years.  It  was  also  when  a  young  man 
that  he  travelled  for  some  years  through  Poland  and 
Germany.  It  is  rather  difficult  to  say  what  his  object 
may  have  been  in  making  these  travels  —  for  the  Gaon 
was  not  the  man  to  travel  for  pleasure's  sake.  Perhaps 
it  was  to  become  acquainted  with  the  great  Rabbis  of 
these  countries.  It  is  also  possible,  as  others  maintain, 
that  the  Gaon  considered  the  many  privations  which  a 
traveller  had  to  endure  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago, 
as  an  atonement  for  his  imaginary  sins.  Indeed  we  find 
in  many  ascetic  books  that  travelling,  or  as  they  term  it 
"  receiving  upon  oneself  to  be  banished  into  the  exile," 13 
is  recommended  as  a  very  successful  substitute  for  pen- 
ance. At  least  it  seems  that  the  coachmen  whom  the 
Gaon  employed  on  his  journeys  looked  at  it  from  this 
point  of  view.  One  of  them  went  so  far  in  adding  to 


ELIJAH   WILNA  83 

the  privations  of  the  Gaon  as  to  run  away  with  his  car- 
riage when  the  Rabbi  alighted  from  it  in  order  to  read 
his  prayers.  But  the  reading  of  the  Eighteen  Benedic- 
tions 14  must  not  be  interrupted  excepting  in  the  case  of 
danger ;  and  the  Gaon  did  not  consider  it  very  dangerous 
to  be  left  without  money  and  without  luggage. 

These  travels  ended  in  the  year  1745.  The  Gaon  left 
Wilna  again  at  a  later  date  with  the  purpose  of  going  to 
Palestine  and  settling  there.  But  he  found  so  many  ob- 
stacles on  his  way  that  he  was  soon  compelled  to  give  up 
his  favourite  plan  and  to  return  to  his  native  town.  It  is 
not  known  whether  he  left  Wilna  again. 

The  position  which  the  Gaon  occupied  in  Wilna  was,  as 
already  hinted,  that  of  a  private  man.  He  could  never  be 
prevailed  upon  to  accept  the  post  of  Rabbi  or  any  other 
office  in  a  Jewish  community.  I  am  unable  to  give  the 
reason  for  his  declining  all  the  offers  made  to  him  in  this 
direction.  But  it  may  be  suggested  here  that  it  was  in 
the  time  of  the  Gaon  that  there  arose  a  bitter  struggle 
between  the  Rabbi  and  the  Jewish  wardens  of  his  native 
town,  which  ended  in  the  abolition  of  the  office  of  Rabbi. 
The  history  of  the  struggle  is  the  more  irritating,  as  it 
arose  from  the  pettiest  reasons  imaginable.  People  act- 
ually discovered  that  there  was  no  light  in  the  house  of 
the  Rabbi  after  the  middle  of  the  night,  which  fact  might 
lead  to  the  conclusion  that  he  did  not  study  later  than 
12  o'clock  P.M.  What  an  idle  man!  And  this  idleness 
was  the  less  pardonable  in  the  eyes  of  the  community,  as 
the  Rabbi's  wife  was  so  unfortunate  as  not  to  have  been 
polite  enough  to  some  Mrs.  Warden.  Under  such  circum- 
stances we  must  not  wonder  if  the  Gaon  did  not  find  it 
very  desirable  to  meddle  with  congregational  affairs  in  an 


84  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

official  capacity.  The  relation  of  the  Gaon  to  his  contem- 
poraries resembles  rather  the  position  in  the  olden  times 
of  a  Tanna  or  Amora,15  who  neither  enjoyed  the  title  of 
Nasin  or  that  of  Ab  Beth  Din.16  Like  R.  Akiba,  or  Mar 
Samuel,  the  Gaon  became  influential  among  his  contem- 
poraries only  by  his  teaching  and  his  exemplary  life. 

It  must  be  said  in  praise  of  the  Jews  of  Wilna  that,  not- 
withstanding their  petty  behaviour  towards  their  ecclesias- 
tical chief,  they  willingly  submitted  to  the  authority  of  the 
Gaon  (who  was  devoid  of  all  official  authority).  They 
revered  him  as  a  saint.  To  converse  with  the  Gaon  was 
considered  as  a  happy  event  in  the  life  of  a  Jew  in  Wilna, 
to  be  of  any  use  to  him  as  the  greatest  distinction  a  man 
could  attain  on  earth.  But  what  is  remarkable  is  the 
readiness  with  which  even  scholars  acknowledged  the 
authority  of  the  Gaon.  Scholars  are  usually  more  slow 
in  recognising  greatness  than  simple  mortals.  Every 
new  luminary  does  not  only  outshine  their  minor  lights 
and  thus  hurt  their  personal  vanity,  but  it  threatens  also 
sometimes  to  obscure  certain  traditions  which  they  wish  to 
keep  prominently  in  view.  But  the  literary  genius  of  the 
Gaon  was  too  great  to  be  opposed  with  success,  and  his 
piety  and  devotion  to  religion  far  above  suspicion.  Thus 
the  Gaon  was  very  soon  recognised  by  his  contemporaries 
as  their  master  and  guide ;  not  only  in  literary  questions, 
but  also  in  matters  of  belief  and  conduct. 

It  would  lead  me  too  far  to  name  here  all  the  Gaon's 
disciples.  It  seems  as  if  all  the  great  scholars  in  his  coun- 
try considered  themselves  to  be  more  or  less  his  pupils. 
The  Gaon  used  to  give  in  the  Beth  Hammidrash,  which  he 
founded,  public  lectures  on  various  subjects,  and  the  stu- 
dents who  attended  these  lectures  also  claimed  the  honour 


ELIJAH   WILNA  85 

of  being  called  his  pupils.  I  shall  mention  here  only  his 
greatest  disciple,  R.  Chayim  Walosin,  who,  after  the  Gaon, 
influenced  his  countrymen  more  than  any  other  scholar  of 
that  time.  This  R.  Chayim  also  did  not  occupy  any  official 
post  among  his  brethren.  He  was  a  cloth  manufacturer 
by  profession,  and  was  very  prosperous  in  his  business. 
But  it  did  not  prevent  him  from  being  devoted  to  Hebrew 
literature,  and  he  enjoyed  a  wide-spread  fame  as  a  great 
scholar.  But  as  soon  as  the  fame  of  the  Gaon  reached 
him,  he  left  cloth  manufactory  and  scholarship  behind, 
and  went  to  Wilna  to  "  learn  Torah  "  from  the  mouth  of 
the  great  master.  It  must  be  noticed  that  even  the  giv- 
ing up  of  his  claim  to  scholarship  was  no  little  sacrifice. 
All  our  learning,  said  some  scholar  in  Wilna,  disappeared 
as  soon  as  we  crossed  the  threshold  of  the  Gaon's  house. 
He  made  every  disciple  who  came  into  close  contact  with 
him  begin  at  the  beginning.  He  taught  them  Hebrew 
grammar,  Bible,  Mishnah,  and  many  other  subjects,  which 
were,  as  already  mentioned,  very  often  neglected  by  the 
Talmudists  of  that  time.  R.  Chayim  had  also  to  go 
through  all  this  course.  Some  would  have  considered  such 
treatment  a  degradation.  R.  Chayim,  however,  became 
the  more  attached  to  his  master  for  it. 

In  such  a  way  the  life  of  the  Gaon  was  spent,  studying 
by  himself  or  teaching  his  pupils.  It  must  be  understood 
that  to  learn  Torah  meant  for  the  Gaon  more  than  mere 
brain  work  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  knowledge.  To 
him  it  was  a  kind  of  service  to  God.  Contemporaries  who 
watched  him  when  he  was  studying  the  Torah  observed 
that  the  effect  wrought  on  the  personality  of  the  Gaon  was 
the  same  as  when  he  was  praying.  With  every  word  his 
countenance  flushed  with  joy;  with  every  line  he  was  gain- 


86  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

ing  strength  for  proceeding  further.  Only  by  looking  at 
matters  from  this  point  of  view  shall  we  be  able  to  under- 
stand the  devotion  and  the  love  of  the  Gaon  for  study. 

There  has  been,  no  doubt,  among  the  Russian  Jews  a 
strong  tendency  to  exaggerate  the  intellectual  qualities  of 
the  Gaon.  But  one  can  readily  excuse  such  a  tendency. 
He  was  gifted  by  nature  with  such  a  wonderful  memory 
that,  having  read  a  book  once,  he  was  able  to  recite  it 
by  heart  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  Not  less  admirable 
was  his  sure  grasp.  The  most  complicated  controversies 
in  the  Talmud,  into  which  other  scholars  would  require 
whole  days  and  weeks  to  find  their  way,  the  Gaon  was 
able  to  read  by  a  glance  at  the  pages.  Already  as  a 
boy  he  is  said  to  have  gone  through  in  a  single  night 
the  tractates  Zebachim  and  Menachoth?1  containing  not 
less  than  two  hundred  and  thirty  pages,  the  contents  of 
which  are  sometimes  so  difficult  as  to  make  even  an  aged 
scholar  despair  of  understanding  them.  Again,  he  pos- 
sessed so  much  common-sense  that  all  the  intellectual 
tricks  of  the  casuistic  schools  did  not  exist  for  him.  And 
nevertheless  his  biographers  tell  us  that  he  was  so  much 
occupied  by  his  studies,  that  he  could  not  spare  more 
than  one  hour  and  a  half  for  sleep  out  of  twenty-four 
hours.  This  is,  no  doubt,  an  exaggeration.  But  let  us 
say  five  hours  a  day.  He  had  not  time  to  take  his  meals 
regularly.  He  used  also,  according  to  tradition,  to  repeat 
every  chapter  in  the  Bible,  every  passage  in  the  Talmud, 
hundreds  of  times,  even  if  they  presented  no  difficulty 
at  all.  But  it  was,  as  already  said,  a  matter  of  love  for 
the  Gaon ;  of  love,  not  of  passing  affection. 

Nothing  on  earth  could  be  more  despicable  to  the  Gaon 
than  amateurs  who  dabble  with  ancient  literature,  To 


ELIJAH   WILNA  %y 

understand  a  thing  clearly  made  him  happy.  He  is  said 
to  have  spent  more  than  six  months  on  a  single  Mishnah 
in  the  tractate  Kilayim^  and  felt  himself  the  happiest 
man  when  he  succeeded  in  grasping  its  real  meaning. 
Not  to  be  able  to  go  into  the  depth  of  a  subject,  to  miss 
the  truth  embedded  in  a  single  passage,  caused  him  the 
most  bitter  grief.  A  story  told  by  his  pupil,  R.  Chayim, 
may  illustrate  this  fact.  One  Friday,  narrates  R.  Chayim, 
the  servant  of  the  Gaon  came  to  him  with  the  message 
that  his  master  wanted  to  see  him  as  soon  as  possible. 
R.  Chayim  went  instantly.  When  he  came  into  the  house, 
he  found  the  Gaon  lying  in  bed  with  a  bandage  on  his 
head  and  looking  very  ill.  The  wife  of  the  Gaon  also 
reported  to  him  that  it  was  more  than  three  days  since 
her  husband  had  taken  any  food,  and  that  he  had  hardly 
enjoyed  any  sleep  all  this  time.  .  All  this  misery  was 
caused  by  reason  of  not  having  been  able  to  understand 
some  difficult  passages  in  the  Talmud  of  Jerusalem.  The 
Gaon  now  asked  his  disciples  to  resume  with  him  their 
researches.  Heaven,  he  said,  might  have  mercy  upon 
them  and  open  their  eyes,  for  it  is  written,  "  Two  are 
better  than  one":  and  lo!  Heaven  did  have  mercy  on 
them ;  they  succeeded  in  getting  the  true  meaning  of 
the  passage.  The  Gaon  recovered  instantly,  and  master 
and  disciple  had  a  very  joyful  Sabbath. 

-He  is  also  reported  to  have  said  on  one  occasion,  he 
would  not  like  to  have  an  angel  for  his  teacher  who  would 
reveal  to  him  all  the  mysteries  of  the  Torah.  Such  a  con- 
dition is  only  befitting  the  world  to  come,  but  in  this  world 
only  things  which  are  acquired  by  hard  labour  and  great 
struggle  are  of  any  value.  The  German  representative  of 
truth  expressed  the  same  thought  in  other  words,  which 


88  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

are  well  worth  repeating  here  :  "  Did  the  Almighty,"  says 
Lessing,  "  holding  in  His  right  hand  Truth  and  in  His  left 
Search  after  Truth,  deign  to  tender  me  the  one  I  might 
prefer,  in  all  humility  and  without  hesitation  I  should 
select  Search  after  Truth." 

This  absorption  of  all  his  being  in  the  study  of  the 
Torah  may  also,  I  think,  account  for  the  fact  that  his 
biographers  have  so  little  to  say  about  the  family  of  the 
Gaon.  Of  his  wife,  we  know  only  that  she  died  in  the 
year  1783.  Not  much  fuller  is  our  knowledge  about  his 
children.  The  biographers  speak  of  them  as  of  the  family 
"  which  the  Lord  has  blessed,"  referring  to  his  two  sons, 
Rabbi  Aryeh  Leb  and  Rabbi  Abraham,  who  were  known 
as  great  scholars  and  very  pious  men.  The  latter  one  is 
best  known  by  his  edition  of  a  collection  of  smaller  Mid- 
rashim.  Mention  is  also  made  of  the  Gaon's  sons-in-law, 
especially  one  Rabbi  Moses  of  Pinsk.  But  this  is  all,  and 
we  are  told  nothing  either  about  their  lives  or  their  call- 
ings. From  his  famous  letter  which  he  sent  to  his  family 
when  on  his  way  to  Palestine,  we  see  that  he  was  rather 
what  one  may  call  a  severe  father.  He  bids  his  wife  pun- 
ish his  children  most  severely  for  swearing,  scolding,  and 
speaking  untruth.  He  also  advises  her  to  live  as  retired 
a  life  as  possible.  Retirement  he  considers  as  a  condition 
sine  qua  non  for  a  religious  life.  He  even  advises  his 
daughter  to  read  her  prayers  at  home,  for  in  the  syna- 
gogue she  may  get  envious  of  the  finer  dresses  of  her 
friends,  which  is  a  most  terrible  sin.  The  only  tender 
feature  in  this  letter  is  perhaps  where  he  implores  his 
wife  to  be  kind  to  his  mother  on  account  of  her  being  a 
widow,  and  it  were  a  great  sin  to  cause  her  the  least  an- 
noyance. From  other  passages  we  may  gather  that  his 


ELIJAH    WILNA  gg 

family  had  at  times  to  suffer  hunger  and  cold  by  the  ex- 
cessive occupation  of  their  father  with  the  study  of  the 
Torah  and  other  religious  works.  In  short,  the  Gaon  was 
a  one-sided,  severe  ascetic,  and  would  never  have  deserved 
the  title  of  a  good  father,  a  good  husband,  an  amiable  man 
or  any  other  appellation  derived  from  those  ordinary 
"  household  decencies "  which,  as  Macaulay  informs  us, 
half  of  the  tombstones  claim  for  those  who  lie  behind 
them.  But  I  am  very  much  afraid  that  many  a  great  man 
who  has  made  his  mark  in  history  could  never  claim  these 
household  virtues  as  his  own.  I  do  not  want  to  enter  here 
into  the  question  whether  Judaism  be  an  ascetic  religion 
or  not.  But  even  those  who  think  Judaism  identical  with 
what  is  called  "  making  the  best  of  this  life,"  will  not  dis- 
pute the  fact  that  Jewish  literature  contains  within  it 
enough  ascetic  elements  to  justify  the  conduct  of  our 
greatest  men  whose  lives  were  one  long-continued  self- 
denial  and  privation.  "  The  Torah,"  says  the  Talmud, 
"  cannot  be  obtained  unless  a  man  is  prepared  to  give  his 
life  for  it,"  or  as  the  Talmud  puts  it,  in  another  place,  "  if 
it  be  thy  desire  not  to  die,  cease  to  live  before  thou  diest." 
This  was  the  principle  by  which  the  Gaon's  life  was  actu- 
ated. And  as  he  did  not  spare  himself,  he  could  not  spare 
others.  We  could  not  expect  him  to  act  differently.  The 
Scriptures  tell  us :  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself."  But  how  is  it  with  the  man  who  never  loved 
himself,  who  never  gave  a  thought  to  himself,  who  never 
lived  for  himself,  but  only  for  what  he  considered  to  be 
his  duty  and  his  mission  from  God  on  earth  ?  Such  a 
man  we  cannot  expect  to  spend  his  time  on  coaxing  and 
caressing  us.  As  to  the  charge  of  one-sidedness  at  which 
I  have  hinted,  if  the  giving  up  of  everything  else  for  the 


go  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

purpose  of  devoting  oneself  to  a  scholarly  and  saintly  life 
is  one-sidedness,  the  Gaon  must  certainly  bear  this  charge  ; 
but  in  a  world  where  there  are  so  many  on  the  other  side, 
we  ought,  I  think,  to  be  only  too  grateful  to  Providence  for 
sending  us  from  time  to  time  great  and  strong  one-sided 
men,  who,  by  their  counterbalancing  influence,  bring  God's 
spoilt  world  to  a  certain  equilibrium  again.  To  appease  my 
more  tender  readers,  I  should  like  only  to  say  that  there  is 
no  occasion  at  all  for  pitying  Mrs.  Gaon.  It  would  be  a 
miserable  world  indeed  if  a  good  digestion  and  stupidity 
were,  as  a  certain  author  maintained,  the  only  conditions 
of  happiness.  Saints  are  happy  in  their  sufferings,  and 
noble  souls  find  their  happiness  in  sacrificing  themselves 
for  these  sufferers. 

Another  severe  feature  in  the  life  of  the  Gaon  showed 
itself  in  his  dispute  with  the  Chassidim.  I  regret  not  to 
be  able  to  enter  here  even  into  a  brief  account  of  the  his- 
tory of  this  struggle.  I  shall  only  take  leave  to  say  that  I 
am  afraid  each  party  was  right,  the  Gaon  as  well  as  the 
Chassidim ;  the  latter,  in  attacking  the  Rabbis  of  their 
time,  who  mostly  belonged  to  the  casuistic  schools,  and  in 
their  intellectual  pursuits  almost  entirely  neglected  the 
emotional  side  of  religion ;  but  none  the  less  was  the 
Gaon  right  in  opposing  a  system  which,  as  I  have  shown 
above,  involved  the  danger  of  leading  to  a  worship  of 
men. 

Excepting  this  incident,  the  Gaon  never  meddled  with 
public  affairs.  He  lived  in  retirement,  always  occupied 
with  his  own  education  and  that  of  his  disciples  and 
friends.  It  is  most  remarkable  that,  in  spite  of  his  hard 
work  and  the  many  privations  he  had  to  endure,  he 
enjoyed  good  health  almost  all  his  life.  He  never  con- 


ELIJAH  WILXA  gi 

suited  a  doctor.  It  was  not  until  the  year  1791,  in  the 
seventieth  year  of  his  life,  that  he  began  to  feel  the 
decline  of  his  health.  But  he  was  not  much  interrupted 
by  the  failure  of  his  powers.  As  a  means  of  recovery,  he 
esteemed  very  highly  the  conversation  of  the  preacher 
Jacob  of  Dubna,  better  known  as  the  Dubna  Maggid,19 
whose  parables  and  sallies  of  wit  the  Gaon  used  to  enjoy 
very  much.  On  the  eve  of  the  Day  of  Atonement  in  the 
year  1797,  he  fell  very  ill  and  gave  his  blessing  to  his 
children.  He  died  on  the  third  day  of  the  Feast  of  Tab- 
ernacles, with  the  branch  of  the  Lulab20  in  his  hands. 
The  Feast  of  Joy,  relates  a  contemporary,  was  turned  into 
days  of  mourning.  In  all  the  streets  of  Wilna  were  heard 
only  lamenting  and  crying  voices.  The  funeral  orations 
delivered  on  this  occasion  in  Wilna,  as  well  as  in  other 
Jewish  communities,  would  form  a  small  library.  His  dis- 
ciples wept  for  their  master,  the  people  of  Wilna  for  the 
ornament  of  their  native  town,  and  the  feeling  of  the  Jews 
in  general  was  that  "the  Ark  of  God  was  taken  away." 

After  the  foregoing  sketch,  the  reader  will  hardly 
expect  me  to  give  an  account  of  the  Gaon's  literary  pro- 
ductions. The  results  of  so  long  a  life  and  such  powers 
of  mind  devoted  to  one  cause  with  such  zeal  and  fervour, 
would  furnish  by  themselves  the  subject  of  a  whole  series 
of  essays.  The  tombstone  set  on  his  grave  by  his  pious 
admirers  bears  the  inscription,  "  The  Gaon  gave  heed  and 
sought  and  set  in  order  "  —  that  is  to  say,  he  wrote  com- 
mentaries or  notes  on  —  "the  Bible,  the  Mishnah,  both 
Talmuds,  the  Siphre,  Siphra,  the  Zohar,  and  many  other 
works."  Inscriptions  on  tombstones  are  proverbial  for 
exaggeration,  and  we  all  know  the  saying,  "  as  mendacious 
as  an  epitaph."  But  a  glance  at  the  catalogue  of  the 


g2  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

British  Museum  under  the  heading  of  Elijah  Wilna,  will 
show  that  this  inscription  makes  a  praiseworthy  exception. 
We  will  find  that  this  list  might  be  lengthened  by  many 
other  works  of  great  importance  for  Jewish  life  and 
thought.  His  commentary  to  the  Code  of  R.  Joseph 
Caro,  in  which  one  will  find  that  in  many  cases  he  knew 
the  sources  of  the  religious  customs  and  usages,  put 
together  in  this  work,  better  than  its  compiler  himself, 
would  have  been  sufficient  to  place  him  at  the  head  of 
Halachic  scholarship,  whilst  his  notes  and  textual  emenda- 
tions to  the  Tosephta  and  Seder  Olam,  to  the  restoration 
of  which  he  contributed  so  much,  would  have  sufficed  to 
establish  his  fame  as  a  critic  of  the  first  order.  And  this 
is  the  more  astonishing  when  we  consider  that  all  this  was 
done  without  manuscripts  or  any  other  aid,  and  by  mere 
intuition.  We  cannot  wonder  that  scholars  who  had 
the  opportunity  of  visiting  great  libraries  and  saw  how 
the  emendations  of  the  Gaon  agreed  sometimes  with  the 
readings  given  in  the  best  manuscripts  exclaimed  very 
often :  "  Only  by  inspiration  could  he  have  found  out 
these  secrets."  We  have  no  need  to  go  so  far;  we  shall 
simply  say  with  the  Talmud,  "  The  powers  of  the  real 
sage  surpass  those  of  the  prophet."  Nay,  even  had  we 
possessed  only  his  Gleanings,  which  form  a  kind  of  obiter 
dicta  on  various  topics  of  Jewish  literature,  the  Gaon 
would  have  remained  a  model  of  clear  thinking  and  real 
ingenuity  for  all  future  generations. 

However,  a  real  appreciation  of  the  Gaon's  greatness  as 
a  scholar  would  only  be  possible  either  by  a  thorough 
study  of  his  works,  to  which  I  have  alluded,  or  by  giving 
many  specimens  of  them.  The  short  space  I  am  limited 
to  makes  such  an  undertaking  impossible.  I  shall  there- 


ELIJAH   WILNA  93 

fore  use  what  remains  to  me  to  say  a  few  words  on  the 
salutary  influence  the  Gaon  had  on  his  countrymen,  the 
Russian  Jews. 

The  Russian  Jew  is  still  a  riddle  to  us.  We  know  this 
strange  being  only  from  the  Reports  of  the  Board  of 
Guardians  or  from  bombastic  phrases  in  public  speeches ; 
for  he  has  always  been  the  victim  of  platform  orators, 

So  over  violent  or  over  civil, 

That  every  man  with  them  is  God  or  Devil. 

From  all,  however,  that  I  can  gather  from  the  best  Jewish 
writers  in  Russia,  I  can  only  judge  that  the  Russian  Jew, 
when  transplanted  to  a  foreign  soil,  where  he  is  cut  off 
from  the  past  and  uncertain  of  his  future,  is  for  the  time 
at  least  in  a  position  in  which  his  true  character  cannot  be 
truly  estimated.  His  real  life  is  to  be  sought  in  his  own 
country.  There,  amidst  his  friends  and  kinsmen  who  are 
all  animated  by  the  same  ideals,  attached  to  the  same  tra- 
ditions, and  proud  of  the  same  religious  and  charitable 
institutions,  everything  is  full  of  life  and  meaning  to  him. 
Thus,  a  certain  Russian  writer  addresses  his  younger  col- 
leagues who  find  so  much  fault  with  the  bygone  world : 
"  Go  and  see  how  rich  we  always  were  in  excellent  men. 
In  every  town  and  every  village  you  would  find  scholars, 
saints,  and  philanthropists.  Their  merits  could  sustain 
worlds,  and  each  of  them  was  an  ornament  of  Israel." 
And  he  proceeds  to  give  dozens  of  names  of  such  excel- 
lent men,  who  are  not  all  indeed  known  to  us,  but  with 
whom  the  Russian  Jew  connects  many  noble  and  pious 
reminiscences  of  real  greatness  and  heroic  self-denial,  and 
of  whom  he  is  justly  proud. 


Q4  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

The  focus,  however,  of  all  this  spiritual  life  is  the  Yeshi- 
bah  (Talmudical  College)21  in  Walosin.  I  hope  that  a 
glance  at  its'  history  and  constitution  will  not  be  found 
uninteresting.  The  intellectual  originator  of  this  institu- 
tion which  bears  the  name  Yeshibah  Ets  Chayim  (Tree  of 
Life  College),22  was  the  Gaon  himself.  Being  convinced 
that  the  study  of  the  Torah  is  the  very  life  of  Judaism,  but 
that  this  study  must  be  conducted  in  a  scientific,  not  in  a 
scholastic  way,  he  bade  his  chief  disciple,  the  R.  Chayim 
already  mentioned,  to  found  a  college  in  which  Rabbinical 
literature  should  be  taught  according  to  his  own  true 
method.  It  would  seem  that,  as  long  as  the  Gaon  was 
alive,  R.  Chayim  preferred  to  be  a  pupil  rather  than  a 
teacher.  When,  however,  the  Gaon  died,  R.  Chayim  did 
not  rest  till  he  had  carried  out  the  command  of  his  master, 
and  in  the  year  1803  the  College  was  opened  in  Walosin. 
The  cloth  manufacturer  and  disciple  now  became  Rabbi 
and  master.  He  began  on  a  small  scale,  teaching  at  first 
only  a  few  pupils.  But  even  for  the  sustenance  of  a  small 
number  he  had  not  sufficient  means,  and  his  pious  wife 
sold  her  jewellery  to  help  him  in  accomplishing  his  favour- 
ite plan.  This  is  the  best  refutation  of  the  French  prov- 
erb Avare  comme  une  Rabbine.  The  number,  however, 
increased  daily,  and  before  he  died  (1828),  he  was  fortunate 
enough  to  lecture  to  a  hundred  students.  The  number  of 
students  in  the  year  1888  amounted  to  400,  and  the  Rus- 
sian Jews  are  thus  right  in  asserting  that  they  have  the 
greatest  Talmudical  College  in  the  world.  It  is  evident 
that  no  private  charity  by  a  single  man,  however  great, 
could  suffice  to  maintain  such  large  numbers.  Thus  R. 
Chayim  was  already  compelled  to  appeal  to  the  liberality 
of  his  Russian  brethren.  The  name  of  R.  Chayim,  and 


ELIJAH   WILNA  95 

the  still  greater  name  of  his  master,  were  recommendation 
enough,  and  besides  private  offerings,  many  communities 
promised  large  sums  towards  supporting  the  students  in 
Walosin.  From  time  to  time  also  messengers  are  sent  out 
by  the  committee  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  Yeshi- 
bah.  The  writers  to  whom  I  owe  these  data  tell  us  that 
these  messengers  travel  to  all  parts  of  the  world  to  collect 
offerings  for  Walosin :  so  that  it  is  a  standing  joke  with 
the  students  that  the  existence  of  the  mythical  river 
Sambatyon23  may  be  questioned  after  all,  otherwise  it 
must  long  have  been  discovered  by  these  messengers  who 
explore  the  whole  world  in  their  journeys.  But  it  would 
seem  that  this  world  is  only  a  very  small  one.  For  the 
whole  income  of  the  Yeshibah  has  never  exceeded  the 
sum  of  about  ;£i8oo.  Of  this  a  certain  part  is  spent  in 
providing  the  salaries  of  the  teaching  staff  and  proctors, 
and  on  the  repairs  of  the  building ;  whilst  the  rest  is 
distributed  amongst  the  students.  Considering  that  no 
scholarship  exceeds  ,£13 — it  is  only  the  forty  immortals 
of  Walosin  who  receive  such  high  stipends  —  considering 
again  that  the  great  majority  of  the  students  belong  to  the 
poorer  classes  and  thus  receive  no  remittance  from  their 
parents,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  words  of  the  Talmud : 
"This  is  the  way  to  study  the  Torah ;  eat  bread  and  salt, 
drink  water  by  measure,  sleep  on  the  earth,  and  live  a 
life  of  care,"  are  carried  out  by  them  literally.  But  it 
would  seem  that  the  less  they  eat  and  the  less  they  sleep, 
the  more  they  work.  Indeed  the  industry  and  the  enthu- 
siasm of  these  Bachurim  (alumni)*  in  the  study  of  the 
Torah  is  almost  unsurpassable.  The  official  hours  alone 
extend  from  nine  in  the  morning  until  ten  in  the  evening, 
while  many  of  the  students  volunteer  to  continue  their 


g5  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

studies  till  the  middle  of  the  night,  or  to  begin  the  day  at 
three  in  the  morning. 

As  to  the  subject  of  these  studies,  it  is  confined,  as  may 
be  imagined,  to  the  exploration  of  the  old  Rabbinic  litera- 
ture in  all  its  branches.  But  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  think 
that  the  modern  spirit  has  left  Walosin  quite  untouched. 
It  would  be  impossible  that  among  400  thinking  heads 
there  should  not  be  a  few  who  are  interested  in  mathemat- 
ics, others  again  in  philosophy  or  history,  while  yet  others 
would  conjugate  the  irregular  verbs  of  some  classical  lan- 
guage when  moving  to  and  fro  over  their  Talmud  folios 
and  pretending  to  "learn"  Indeed,  almost  all  the  writers 
who  demand  that  these  subjects  should  be  introduced  as 
obligatory  into  the  programme  of  Walosin,  belonged  them- 
selves to  this  Yeshibah.  And  it  is  these  writers  who 
betray  the  secret  how  secular,  knowledge  is  now  invading 
the  precincts  of  Walosin,  as  well  as  of  other  Talmudical 
Colleges  in  spite  of  all  obstacles  and  prohibitions.  In 
conquering  these  difficulties  seem  to  consist  the  pleasures 
of  life  of  many  Bachurim  at  Walosin.  Look  only  at  that 
undergraduate,  how,  after  a  heavy  day's  work  he  is  stand- 
ing there  in  the  street  reading  Buckle's  History  of  Civili- 
sation in  the  moonlight !  Poor  man,  he  is  not  so  romantic 
as  to  prefer  the  moonlight  to  a  cheerful,  warm  room,  with 
the  more  prosaic  light  of  a  candle,  but  he  has  got  tired  of 
knocking  at  the  door,  for  his  landlady,  to  whom  he  has 
neglected  to  pay  rent  for  the  last  three  terms,  made  up 
her  mind  to  let  him  freeze  to-night.  But  still  more  cruel 
to  him  is  his  fellow-sufferer,  who  is  also  wandering  in  the 
streets  with  an  overloaded  brain  and  empty  stomach ;  he 
roughly  shakes  him  out  of  his  dreams  by  telling  him  that 
Buckle  is  long  ago  antiquated,  and  that  he  had  better 


ELIJAH   WILNA  97 

study  the  works  of  Herbert  Spencer,  who  has  spoken  the 
last  word  on  every  vital  subject  in  the  world.  Still  these 
two  starving  and  freezing  representatives  of  English 
thought  in  Walosin  form  only  an  exception.  The  gen- 
eral favourites  are  the  representatives  of  Jewish  thought. 
That  such  books  as  the  Guide  of  the  Perplexed,  by  Mai- 
monides,  the  Metaphysical  Researches  of  Levi  b.  Ger- 
shom,25  and  other  philosophical  works  of  the  Spanish 
school  are  read  by  the  Walosin  students  it  is  needless  to 
say.  These  books  now  form  a  part  of  the  Rabbinic  litera- 
ture, and  it  would  be  almost  unorthodox  to  suspect  their 
readers.  But  is  worth  noticing  that  even  the  productions 
of  the  modern  historico-critical  school,  such  as  the  works 
of  Zunz,  Frankel,  Graetz,  Weiss,  are  very  popular  with 
the  Bachurim,  being  much  read  and  discussed  by  them. 

Thus  Walosin  deserves  rightly  to  be  considered  as  the 
centre  of  Jewish  thought  in  Russia,  in  which  the  spirit  of 
the  Gaon  is  still  working. 

I  have  very  often,  however,  heard  doubts  expressed  as 
to  the  continuance  of  this  spirit  when,  as  it  is  to  be  hoped, 
better  times  come  for  the  Jews  in  Russia.  Is  it  not  to  be 
feared  that  liberty  and  emancipation  will  render  untenable 
ideas  and  notions  which  arose  under  entirely  different  cir- 
cumstances ?  There  is  no  need  of  entertaining  such  fears. 
Rabbi  Jedaiah  of  Bedres26  concludes  his  philosophical 
work  Examination  of  the  World,  with  the  following  words  : 
"  The  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  is,  go  either  to  the 
right,  my  heart,  or  go  to  the  left,  but  believe  all  that  R. 
Moses  ben  Maimon  (Maimonides)  has  believed,  the  last  of 
the  Gaonim  by  time,  but  the  first  in  rank."  About  five 
hundred  years  have  passed  away  since  these  lines  were 
written.  Time,  as  we  have  seen,  has  brought  another 


98  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Gaon,  and  probably  Time  will  favour  us  in  future  with 
still  another.  But  times  have  also  altered.  The  rebel- 
lious hearts  of  a  liberal  age  are  not  likely  to  obey  always 
the  command,  "believe  all  that  the  Gaon  said."  But  the 
heart  of  man  will  in  all  ages  retain  idealism  enough  to 
love  and  revere  the  greatest  of  men  and  to  follow  what 
was  best  in  them. 


IV 

NACHMANIDES1 

R.  CHAYIM  VITAL,  in  his  Book  of  the  Transmigrations  of 
Sotils,  gives  the  following  bold  characteristic  of  the  two 
great  teachers  of  Judaism,  Maimonides  and  Nachmanides. 
Their  souls  both  sprang  forth  from  the  head  of  Adam  — 
it  is  a  favourite  idea  of  the  Cabbalists  to  evolve  the  whole 
of  ideal  humanity  from  the  archetype  Adam  —  but  the 
former,  Maimonides,  had  his  genius  placed  on  the  left 
curl  of  Adam,  which  is  all  judgment  and  severity,  whilst 
that  of  the  latter,  Nachmanides,  had  its  place  on  the  right 
curl,  which  represents  rather  mercy  and  tenderness. 

I  start  from  these  words  in  order  to  avoid  disappoint- 
ment. For  Nachmanides  was  a  great  Talmudist,  a  great 
Bible  student,  a  great  philosopher,  a  great  controversialist, 
and,  perhaps,  also  a  great  physician ;  in  one  word,  great 
in  every  respect,  possessed  of  all  the  culture  of  his  age. 
But,  as  I  have  already  indicated  by  the  passage  quoted  by 
way  of  introduction,  it  is  not  of  Nachmanides  in  any  of 
these  excellent  qualities  that  I  wish  to  write  here.  For 
these  aspects  of  his  life  and  mind  I  must  refer  the  reader 
to  the  works  of  Graetz,  Weiss,  Steinschneider,  Perles,  and 
others.  I  shall  mostly  confine  myself  to  those  features 
and  peculiarities  in  his  career  and  works  which  will  illus- 
trate Nachmanides  the  tender  and  compassionate,  the 

99 


IOO  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Nachmanides  who  represented  Judaism  from  the  side  of 
emotion  and  feeling,  as  Maimonides  did  from  the  side  of 
reason  and  logic. 

R.  Moses  ben  Nachman,  or  Bonastruc  de  Portas,  as  he 
was  called  by  his  fellow-countrymen,  or  Nachmanides,  as 
he  is  commonly  called  now,  was  born  in  Gerona  about  the 
year  1 195.  Gerona  is  a  little  town  in  the  province  of  Cata- 
lonia in  Spain.  But  though  in  Spain,  Gerona  was  not 
distinguished  for  its  philosophers  or  poets  like  Granada, 
Barcelona,  or  Toledo.  Situated  as  it  was  in  the  North  of 
Spain,  Gerona  was  under  the  influence  of  Franco-Jewish 
sympathies,  and  thus  its  boast  lay  in  the  great  Talmudists 
that  it  produced.  I  shall  only  mention  the  name  of 
R.,  Zerahiah  Hallevi  Gerundi  —  so-called  after  his  native 
place  —  whose  strictures  on  the  Code  of  R.  Isaac  Alfasi, 
which  he  began  as  a  youth  of  nineteen  years,  will  always 
remain  a  marvel  of  critical  insight  and  independent  re- 
search. Nachmanides  is  supposed  by  some  authors  to 
have  been  a  descendant  of  R.  Isaac  ben  Reuben  of  Barce- 
lona, whose  hymns  are  still  to  be  found  in  certain  rituals. 
The  evidence  for  this  is  insufficient,  but  we  know  that  he 
was  a  cousin  of  R.  Jonah  Gerundi,  not  less  famous  for  his 
Talmudic  learning  than  for  his  saintliness  and  piety. 
Nachmanides  thus  belonged  to  the  best  Jewish  families 
of  Gerona.  Various  great  men  are  mentioned  as  his 
teachers,  but  we  have  certainty  only  about  two,  namely 
R.  Judah  ben  Yakar,  the  commentator  of  the  prayers, 
and  R.  Meir  ben  Nathan  of  Trinquintaines.  The  mystic, 
R.  Ezra  (or  Azriel),  is  indeed  alleged  to  have  been  his 
instructor  in  the  Cabbalah,  and  this  is  not  impossible,  as 
he  also  was  an  inhabitant  of  Gerona ;  but  it  is  more  prob- 
able that  Nachmanides  was  initiated  into  the  Cabbalah  by 


NA  CHMANIDES  T  o  l 

the  R.  Judah  just  mentioned,  who  also  belonged  to  the 
mystical  school. 

Whoever  his  masters  were,  they  must  have  been  well 
satisfied  with  their  promising  pupil,  for  he  undertook,  at 
the  age  of  fifteen,  to  write  supplements  to  the  Code  of 
R.  Isaac  Alfasi.  Nor  was  it  at  a  much  later  date  that  he 
began  to  compose  his  work,  The  Wars  of  the  Lord,  in 
which  he  defends  this  great  codifier  against  the  strictures 
of  R.  Zerahiah,  to  which  we  have  referred  above.  I  shall 
in  the  course  of  this  essay  have  further  occasion  to  speak 
of  this  latter  work;  for  the  present  we  will  follow  the 
career  of  its  author. 

Concerning  the  private  life  of  Nachmanides  very  little 
has  come  down  to  us.  We  only  know  that  he  had  a 
family  of  sons  and  daughters.  He  was  not  spared  the 
greatest  grief  that  can  befall  a  father,  for  he  lost  a  son ; 
it  was  on  the  day  of  the  New  Year.2  On  the  other  hand, 
it  must  have  been  a  great  source  of  joy  to  him  when  he 
married  his  son  Solomon  to  the  daughter  of  R.  Jonah, 
whom  he  revered  as  a  saint  and  a  man  of  God.  As  a 
token  of  the  admiration  in  which  he  held  his  friend,  the 
following  incident  may  be  mentioned.  It  seems  that  it 
was  the  custom  in  Spain  to  name  the  first  child  in  a 
family  after  his  paternal  grandfather;  but  Nachmanides 
ceded  his  right  in  behalf  of  his  friend,  and  thus  his 
daughter-in-law's  first  son  was  named  Jonah.  Another 
son  of  Nachmanides  whom  we  know  of  was  Nachman,  to 
whom  his  father  addressed  his  letters  from  Palestine,  and 
who  also  wrote  Novellae  to  the  Talmud,  still  extant  in  MS. 
But  the  later  posterity  of  Nachmanides  is  better  known 
to  fame.  R.  Levi  ben  Gershom  was  one  of  his  descend- 
ants; so  was  also  R.  Simeon  Duran;3  whilst  R.  Jacob 


I02  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Sasportas,  in  the  eighteenth  century,4  derived  his  pedigree 
from  Nachmanides  in  the  eleventh  generation. 

As  to  his  calling,  he  was  occupied  as  Rabbi  and  teacher, 
first  in  Gerona  and  afterwards  in  Barcelona.  But  this 
meant  as  much  as  if  we  should  say  of  a  man  that  he  is 
a  philanthropist  by  profession,  with  the  only  difference 
that  the  treasures  of  which  Nachmanides  disposed  were 
more  of  a  spiritual  kind.  For  his  livelihood  he  probably 
depended  upon  his  medical  practice. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  the  life  of  Nachmanides,  "whose 
words  were  held  in  Catalonia  in  almost  as  high  authority 
as  the  Scriptures,"  was  not  without  its  great  public  events. 
At  least  we  know  of  two. 

The  one  was  about  the  year  1232,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  great  struggle  about  Maimonides'  Guide  of  the  Per- 
plexed, and  the  first  book  of  his  great  Compendium  of 
the  Law.  The  Maimonists  looked  upon  these  works 
almost  as  a  new  revelation,  whilst  the  Anti-Maimonists 
condemned  both  as  heretical,  or  at  least  conducive  to 
heresy.5  It  would  be  profitless  to  reproduce  the  details 
of  this  sad  affair.  The  motives  may  have  been  pure  and 
good,  but  the  actions  were  decidedly  bad.  People  de- 
nounced each  other,  excommunicated  each  other,  and  did 
not  (from  either  side)  spare  even  the  dead  from  the  most 
bitter  calumnies.  Nachmanides  stood  between  two  fires. 
The  French  Rabbis,  from  whom  most  of  the  Anti- 
Maimonists  were  recruited,  he  held  in  very  high  esteem 
and  considered  himself  as  their  pupil.  Some  of  the 
leaders  of  this  party  were  also  his  relatives.  He,  too, 
had,  as  we  shall  see  later  on,  a  theory  of  his  own  about 
God  and  the  world  little  in  agreement  with  that  of  Mai- 
monides. It  is  worth  noting  that  Nachmanides  objected 


NA  CHMANIDES  T  o  3 

to  calling  Maimonides  "our  teacher  Moses"  (Rabbenu 
Mosheh),6  thinking  it  improper  to  confer  upon  him  the 
title  by  which  the  Rabbis  honoured  the  Master  of  the 
Prophets.  The  very  fact,  however,  that  he  had  some 
theory  of  the  Universe  shows  that  he  had  a  problem  to 
solve,  whilst  the  real  French  Rabbis  were  hardly  troubled 
by  difficulties  of  a  metaphysical  character.  Indeed, 
Nachmanides  pays  them  the  rather  doubtful  compliment 
that  Maimonides'  work  was  not  intended  for  them,  who 
were  barricaded  by  their  faith  and  happy  in  their  belief, 
wanting  no  protection  against  the  works  of  Aristotle  and 
Galen,  by  whose  philosophy  others  might  be  led  astray. 
In  other  words,  their  strength  lay  in  an  ignorance  of 
Greek  philosophy,  to  which  the  cultivated  Jews  of  Spain 
would  not  aspire.  Nachmanides  was  also  a  great  admirer 
of  Maimonides,  whose  virtues  and  great  merits  in  the 
service  of  Judaism  he  describes  in  his  letter  to  the  French 
Rabbis.  Thus,  the  only  way  left  open  to  him  was  to  play 
the  part  of  the  conciliator.  The  course  of  this  struggle 
is  fully  described  in  every  Jewish  history.  It  is  sufficient 
to  say  that,  in  spite  of  his  great  authority,  Nachmanides 
was  not  successful  in  his  effort  to  moderate  the  violence 
of  either  party,  and  that  the  controversy  was  at  last  set- 
tled through  the  harsh  interference  of  outsiders  who  well- 
nigh  crushed  Maimonists  and  Anti-Maimonists  alike. 

The  second  public  event  in  the  life  of  Nachmanides 
was  his  Disputation,  held  in  Barcelona,  at  the  Court  and 
in  the  presence  of  King  Jayme  I.,  of  Aragon,  in  the  year 
1263.  It  was  the  usual  story.  A  convert  to  Christianity, 
named  Pablo  Christiani,  who  burned  with  zealous  anxiety 
to  see  his  former  co-religionists  saved,  after  many  vain 
attempts  in  this  direction,  applied  to  the  King  of  Aragon 


I04  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

to  order  Nachmanides  to  take  part  in  a  public  disputation. 
Pablo  maintained  that  he  could  prove  the  justice  of  the 
Messianic  claims  of  Jesus  from  the  Talmud  and  other 
Rabbinic  writings.  If  he  could  only  succeed  in  convinc- 
ing the  great  Rabbi  of  Spain  of  the  truth  of  his  argument, 
the  bulk  of  the  Jews  was  sure  to  follow.  By  the  way, 
it  was  the  same  Talmud  which  some  twenty  years  pre- 
viously was,  at  the  instance  of  another  Jewish  convert, 
burned  in  Paris,  for  containing  passages  against  Chris- 
tianity. Nachmanides  had  to  conform  with  the  command 
of  the  king,  and,  on  the  2ist  of  July,  1263,  was  begun 
the  controversy,  which  lasted  for  four  or  five  days. 

I  do  not  think  that  there  is  in  the  whole  domain  of 
literature  less  profitable  reading  than  that  of  the  contro- 
versies between  Jews  and  Christians.  These  public  dis- 
putations occasionally  forced  the  Jews  themselves  to 
review  their  position  towards  their  own  literature,  and 
led  them  to  draw  clearer  distinctions  between  what  they 
regarded  as  religion  and  what  as  folklore.  But  beyond 
this,  the  polemics  between  Jews  and  Christians  were 
barren  of  good  results.  If  you  have  read  one  you  have 
read  enough  for  all  time.  The  same  casuistry  and  the 
same  disregard  of  history  turn  up  again  and  again. 
Nervousness  and  humility  are  always  on  the  side  of  the 
Jews,  who  know  that,  whatever  the  result  may  be,  the 
end  will  be  persecution ;  arrogance  is  always  on  the  side 
of  their  antagonists,  who  are  supported  by  a  band  of 
Knights  of  the  Holy  Cross,  prepared  to  prove  the  sound- 
ness of  their  cause  at  the  point  of  their  daggers. 

Besides,  was  there  enough  common  ground  between 
Judaism  and  thirteenth  century  Christianity  to  have  jus- 
tified the  hope  of  a  mutual  understanding  ?  The  Old 


NACHMANIDES  105 

Testament  was  almost  forgotten  in  the  Church.  The 
First  Person  in  the  Trinity  was  leading  a  sort  of  shadowy 
existence  in  art,  which  could  only  be  the  more  repulsive 
to  a  Jew  on  that  account.  The  largest  part  of  Church 
worship  was  monopolised  by  devotion  to  the  Virgin 
Mother,  prayers  to  the  saints,  and  kneeling  before  their 
relics.  And  a  Jew  may  well  be  pardoned  if  he  did  not 
entertain  higher  views  of  this  form  of  worship  than  Lu- 
ther and  Knox  did  at  a  later  period.  It  will  thus  not  be 
worth  our  while  to  dwell  much  on  the  matter  of  this 
controversy,  in  which  the  essence  of  the  real  dispute  is 
scarcely  touched.  There  are  only  two  points  in  it  which 
are  worth  noticing.  The  first  is  that  Nachmanides  de- 
clared the  Agadoth7  in  the  Talmud  to  be  only  a  series 
of  sermons  (he  uses  this  very  word),  expressing  the  indi- 
vidual opinions  of  the  preacher,  and  thus  possessing  no 
authoritative  weight.  The  convert  Pablo  is  quite  aghast 
at  this  statement,  and  accuses  Nachmanides  of  heter- 
odoxy. 

Secondly,  —  and  here  I  take  leave  to  complete  the 
rather  obscure  passage  in  the  controversy  by  a  parallel 
in  his  book,  The  Date  of  Redemption?  quoted  by  Azariah 
de  Rossi  —  that  the  question  of  the  Messiah  is  not  of  that 
dogmatic  importance  to  the  Jews  that  Christians  imagine. 
For  even  if  Jews  supposed  their  sins  to  be  so  great  that 
they  forfeited  all  the  promises  made  to  them  in  the  Script- 
ures, or  that,  on  some  hidden  ground,  it  would  please  the 
Almighty  never  to  restore  their  national  independence, 
<ttiis  would  in  no  way  alter  the  obligations  of  Jews  towards 
the  Torah.  Nor  is  the  coming  of  the  Messiah  desired  by 
Jews  as  an  end  in  itself.  For  it  is  not  the  goal  of  their 
hopes  that  they  shall  be  able  again  to  eat  of  the.  fruit  of 


106  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Palestine,  or  enjoy  other  pleasures  there ;  not  even  the 
chance  of  the  restoration  of  sacrifices  and  the  worship  of 
the  Temple  is  the  greatest  of  Jewish  expectations  (con- 
nected with  the  appearance  of  the  Messiah).  What 
makes  them  long  for  his  coming  is  the  hope  that  they 
will  then  witness,  in  the  company  of  the  prophets  and 
priests,  a  greater  spread  of  purity  and  holiness  than  is 
now  possible.  In  other  words,  the  possibility  for  them 
to  live  a  holy  life  after  the  will  of  God  will  be  greater 
than  now.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  considering  that  such 
a  godly  life  under  a  Christian  government  requires  greater 
sacrifices  than  it  would  under  a  Jewish  king;  and,  con- 
sidering again  that  the  merits  and  rewards  of  a  good  act 
increase  with  the  obstacles  that  are  in  the  way  of  execut- 
ing it  —  considering  this,  a  Jew  might  even  prefer  to  live 
under  the  King  of  Aragon  than  under  the  Messiah,  where 
he  would  perforce  act  in  accordance  with  the  precepts  of 
the  Torah. 

Now  there  is  in  this  statement  much  that  has  only  to 
be  looked  upon  as  a  compliment  to  the  government  of 
Spain.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  if  the  alternative  laid 
before  Nachmanides  had  been  a  really  practical  one,  he 
would  have  decided  in  favour  of  the  clement  rule  of  the 
Messiah  in  preference  to  that  of  the  most  cruel  king 
on  earth.  But  the  fact  that  he  repeats  this  statement 
in  another  place,  where  there  was  no  occasion  to  be  over 
polite  to  the  Government,  tends  to  show,  as  we  have  said, 
that  the  belief  in  the  Messiah  was  not  the  basis  on  which 
Nachmanides'  religion  was  built  up. 

The  result  of  the  controversy  is  contested  by  the  dif- 
ferent parties ;  the  Christian  writers  claim  the  victory 
for  Pablo,  whilst  the  Jewish  documents  maintain  that 


NACHMANIDES 


107 


the  issue  was  with  Nachmanides.  In  any  case,  "  Der 
Jude  wird  verbrannt"  For  in  the  next  year  (1264)  all 
the  books  of  the  Jews  in  Aragon  were  confiscated  and 
submitted  to  the  censorship  of  a  commission,  of  which 
the  well-known  author  of  the  Pugio  Fidei,  Raymund 
Martini,  was,  perhaps,  the  most  important  member.  The 
books  were  not  burned  this  time,  but  had  to  suffer  a 
severe  mutilation ;  the  anti-Christian  passages,  or  such  as 
were  supposed  to  be  so,  were  struck  out  or  obliterated. 
Nachmanides'  account  of  the  controversy,  which  he 
probably  published  from  a  sense  of  duty  towards  those 
whom  he  represented,  was  declared  to  contain  blasphemies 
against  the  dominant  religion.  The  pamphlet  was  con- 
demned to  be  burned  publicly,  whilst  the  author  was,  as 
it  seems,  punished  with  expulsion  from  his  country.  It 
is  not  reported  where  Nachmanides  found  a  home  during 
the  next  three  years;  probably  he  had  to  accept  the 
hospitality  of  his  friends,  either  in  Castile  or  in  the 
south  of  France;  but  we  know  that  in  the  year  1267  he 
left  Europe  and  emigrated  to  Palestine. 

Nachmanides  was,  at  this  juncture  of  his  life,  already 
a  man  of  about  seventy.  But  it  would  seem  as  if  the 
seven  decades  which  he  had  spent  in  the  Spanish  Penin- 
sula were  only  meant  as  a  preparation  for  the  three  years 
which  he  was  destined  to  live  in  the  Holy  Land,  for  it 
was  during  this  stage  of  his  life  that  the  greatest  part  of 
his  Commentary  on  the  Pentateuch  was  written.  In  this 
work,  as  is  agreed  on  all  sides,  his  finest  thoughts  and 
noblest  sentiments  were  put  down. 

Before  proceeding  to  speak  of  his  works,  let  us  first 
cast  a  glance  at  his  letters  from  Palestine,  forming  as 
they  do  a  certain  link  between  his  former  life  and  that 


I08  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

which  was  to  occupy  him  exclusively  for  the  rest  of  his 
days.  We  have  three  letters,  the  first  of  which  I  shall 
translate  here  in  extenso. 

The  letter  was  written  soon  after  his  arrival  at 
Jerusalem  in  the  year  1267.  It  was  addressed  to  his 
son  Nachman,  and  runs  as .  follows  :  — 

"  The  Lord  shall  bless  thee,  my  son  Nachman,  and  thou  shalt 
see  the  good  of  Jerusalem.  Yea,  thou  shalt  see  thy  children's 
children  (Ps.  cxxviii.),  and  thy  table  shall  be  like  that  of  our 
father  Abraham  ! 9  In  Jerusalem,  the  Holy  City,  I  write  this 
letter.  For,  thanks  and  praise  unto  the  rock  of  my  salvation, 
I  was  thought  worthy  by  God  to  arrive  here  safely  on  the  Qth 
of  the  month  of  Elul,  and  I  remained  there  till  the  day  after  the 
Day  of  Atonement.  Now  I  intend  going  to  Hebron,  to  the 
sepulchre  of  our  ancestors,  to  prostrate  myself,  and  there  to  dig 
my  grave.  But  what  am  I  to  say  to  you  with  regard  to  the 
country  ?  Great  is  the  solitude  and  great  the  wastes,  and,  to 
characterise  it  in  short,  the  more  sacred  the  places,  the  greater 
their  desolation  !  Jerusalem  is  more  desolate  than  the  rest 
of  the  country  :  Judaea  more  than  Galilee.  But  even  in  this 
destruction  it  is  a  blessed  land.  It  has  about  2000  inhabitants, 
about  300  Christians  live  there  who  escaped  the  sword  of  the 
Sultan.  There  are  no  Jews.  For  since  the  arrival  of  the  Tar- 
tars, some  fled,  others  died  by  the  sword.  There  are  only  two 
brothers,  dyers  by  trade,  who  have  to  buy  their  ingredients 
from  the  government.  There  the  Ten  Men 10  meet,  and  on 
Sabbaths  they  hold  service  at  their  house.  But  we  encouraged 
them,  and  we  succeeded  in  finding  a  vacant  house,  built  on  pillars 
of  marble  with  a  beautiful  arch.  That  we  took  for  a  synagogue. 
For  the  town  is  without  a  master,  and  whoever  will  take  possession 
of  the  ruins  can  do  so.  We  gave  our  offerings  towards  the  repairs 
of  the  house.  We  have  sent  already  to  Shechem  to  fetch  some 
scrolls  of  the  Law  from  there  which  had  been  brought  thither 
from  Jerusalem  at  the  invasion  of  the  Tartars.  Thus  they  will 
organise  a  synagogue  and  worship  there.  For  continually  people 
crowd  to  Jerusalem,  men  and  women,  from  Damascus,  Zobah 


NACHMANIDES 


109 


(Aleppo),11  and  from  all  parts  of  the  country  to  see  the  Sanctu- 
ary and  to  mourn  over  it.  He  who  thought  us  worthy  to  let  us 
see  Jerusalem  in  her  desertion,  he  shall  bless  us  to  behold  her 
again,  built  and  restored,  when  the  glory  of  the  Lord  will  return 
unto  her.  But  you,  my  son,  and  your  brothers  and  the  whole  of 
our  family,  you  all  shall  live  to  see  the  salvation  of  Jerusalem  and 
the  comfort  of  Zion.  These  are  the  words  of  your  father  who 
is  yearning  and  forgetting,  who  is  seeing  and  enjoying,  Moses 
ben  Nachman.  Give  also  my  peace  to  my  pupil  Moses,  the  son 
of  Solomon,  the  nephew  of  your  mother.  I  wish  to  tell  him  .  .  . 
that  there,  facing  the  holy  temple,  I  have  read  his  verses,  weeping 
bitterly  over  them.  May  he  who  caused  his  name  to  rest  in  the 
Holy  Temple  increase  your  peace  together  with  the  peace  of  the 
whole  community." 

This  letter  may  be  illustrated  by  a  few  parallels  taken 
from  the  appendix  to  Nachmanides'  Commentary  to  the 
Pentateuch,  which  contains  some  rather  incoherent  notes 
which  the  author  seems  to  have  jotted  down  when  he 
arrived  in  Jerusalem.  After  a  lengthy  account  of  the 
material  as  well  as  the  spiritual  glories  of  the  holy  city 
in  the  past,  he  proceeds  to  say  :  — 

"A  mournful  sight  I  have  perceived  in  thee  (Jerusalem)  ;  only 
one  Jew  is  here,  a  dyer,  persecuted,  oppressed  and  despised.  At 
his  house  gather  great  and  small  when  they  can  get  the  Ten  Men. 
They  are  wretched  folk,  without  occupation  and  trade,  consisting 
of  a  few  pilgrims  and  beggars,  though  the  fruit  of  the  land  is  still 
magnificent  and  the  harvests  rich.  Indeed,  it  is  still  a  blessed 
country,  flowing  with  milk  and  honey.  ...  Oh !  I  am  the  man  who 
saw  affliction.  I  am  banished  from  my  table,  far  removed  from 
friend  and  kinsman,  and  too  long  is  the  distance  to  meet  again. 
...  I  left  my  family,  I  forsook  my  house.  There  with  my 
sons  and  daughters,  and  with  the  sweet  and  dear  children  whom  I 
have  brought  up  on  my  knees,  I  left  also  my  soul.  My  heart  and 
my  eyes  will  dwell  with  them  for  ever.  .  .  .  But  the  loss  of  all 
this  and  of  every  other  glory  my  eyes  saw  is  compensated  by  hav- 


1 10  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

ing  now  the  joy  of  being  a  day  in  thy  courts  (O  Jerusalem),  visit- 
ing the  ruins  of  the  Temple  and  crying  over  the  ruined  Sanctuary ; 
where  I  am  permitted  to  caress  thy  stones,  to  fondle  thy  dust,  and 
to  weep  over  thy  ruins.  I  wept  bitterly,  but  I  found  joy  in  my 
tears.  I  tore  my  garments,  but  I  felt  relieved  by  it." 

Of  some  later  date  is  his  letter  from  Acra,  which  may 
be  considered  as  a  sort  of  ethical  will,  and  which  has  been 
justly  characterised  as  a  eulogy  of  humility.  Here  is  an 
extract  from  it :  — 

"  Accustom  yourself  to  speak  gently  to  all  men  at  all  times,  and 
thus  you  will  avoid  anger,  which  leads  to  so  much  sin.  .  .  .  Hu- 
mility is  the  first  of  virtues  ;  for  if  you  think  how  lowly  is  man,  how 
great  is  God,  you  will  fear  Him  and  avoid  sinfulness.  On  the 
humble  man  rests  the  divine  glory ;  the  man  that  is  haughty  to 
others  denies  God.  Look  not  boldly  at  one  whom  you  address. 
.  .  .  Regard  every  one  as  greater  than  thyself.  .  .  .  Remember 
always  that  you  stand  before  God,  both  when  you  pray  and  when 
you  converse  with  others.  .  .  .  Think  before  you  speak.  .  .  . 
Act  as  I  have  bidden  you,  and  your  words,  and  deeds,  and  thoughts, 
will  be  honest,  and  your  prayers  pure  and  acceptable  before  God." 

The  third  letter  is  addressed  to  his  son  (R.  Solomon  ?) 
who  was  staying  (in  the  service  of  the  king)  in  Castile.  It 
is  in  its  chief  content  a  eulogy  of  chastity.12  Probably 
Nachmanides  had  some  dread  of  the  dangerous  allure- 
ments of  the  court,  and  he  begs  his  son  never  to  do  any- 
thing of  which  he  knows  that  his  father  would  not  approve, 
and  to  keep  his  father's  image  always  before  his  eyes. 

As  to  his  works,  we  may  divide  them  into  two  classes. 
The  one  would  contain  those  of  a  strictly  legalistic  (Hala- 
chic),  whilst  the  other  those  of  a  more  homiletic-exegetical 
and  devotional  character  (Agadic).  As  already  indicated 
in  the  preliminary  lines  of  this  paper,  I  cannot  dwell  long 


NA  CHMANIDES  !  i  j 

on  the  former  class  of  our  author's  writings.  It  consists 
either  of  Glosses  or  Novellae  to  the  Talmud,  in  the  style 
and  manner  of  the  French  Rabbis,  or  of  Compendia  of 
certain  parts  of  the  Law  after  the  model  set  by  R.  Isaac 
Alfasi  or  Maimonides,  or  in  defences  of  the  "  Earlier  Au- 
thorities "  against  the  strictures  made  on  them  by  a  later 
generation.  A  few  words  must  be  said  with  regard  to  these 
defences ;  for  they  reveal  that  deep  respect  for  authority 
which  forms  a  special  feature  of  Nachmanides'  writings. 
His  Wars  of  the  Lord,  in  which  he  defends  Alfasi  against 
R.  Zerahiah  of  Gerona,  was  undertaken  when  he  was  very 
young,  whilst  his  defence  of  the  author  of  the  Halachoth 
Gedoloth^  against  the  attacks  of  Maimonides,  which  he 
began  at  a  much  more  mature  age,  shows  the  same  defer- 
ence "to  the  great  ones  of  the  past."  Indeed,  he  says  in 
one  place,  "  We  bow  before  them  (the  earlier  authorities), 
and  though  their  words  are  not  quite  evident  to  us  we 
submit  to  them  " ;  or,  as  he  expresses  himself  elsewhere, 
"  Only  he  who  dips  (deeply  enough)  in  the  wisdom  of  the 
'ancient  ones'  will  drink  the  pure  (old)  wine."  But  it 
would  be  unjust  to  the  genius  of  Nachmanides  to  repre- 
sent him  as  a  blind  worshipper  of  authority.  Humble  and 
generous  in  disposition,  he  certainly  would  bow  before 
every  recognised  authority,  and  he  would  also  think  it  his 
duty  to  take  up  the  cudgels  for  him  as  long  as  there  was 
even  the  least  chance  of  making  an  honourable  defence. 
But  when  this  chance  had  gone,  when  Nachmanides  was 
fully  convinced  that  his  hero  was  in  the  wrong,  he  followed 
no  guide  but  truth.  "  Notwithstanding,"  he  says  in  his 
introduction  to  the  defences  of  the  Halachoth  Gedoloth, 
"  my  desire  and  delight  to  be  the  disciple  of  the  Earlier 
Authorities,  to  maintain  their  views  and  to  assert  them,  I 


H2  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

do  not  consider  myself  a  'donkey  carrying  books.'  I  will 
explain  their  way  and  appreciate  their  value,  but  when 
their  views  are  inconceivable  to  my  thoughts,  I  will  plead 
in  all  modesty,  but  shall  judge  according  to  the  sight  of 
my  eyes.  And  when  the  meaning  is  clear  I  shall  flatter 
none,  for  the  Lord  gives  wisdom  in  all  times  and  ages." 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  there  seems  to  have  been  a  certain 
sort  of  literary  agnosticism  about  Nachmanides  which 
made  it  very  difficult  for  him  to  find  the  "clear  meaning." 
The  passage  in  the  Wars  of  the  Lord  to  the  effect  "  that 
there  is  in  the  art  (of  commenting)  no  such  certain  demon- 
stration as  in  mathematics  or  astronomy,"  is  well  known 
and  has  often  been  quoted ;  but  still  more  characteristic  of 
this  literary  agnosticism  is  the  first  paragraph  of  the 
above-mentioned  defences  of  the  Halachoth  Gedoloth. 
Whilst  all  his  predecessors  accepted,  on  the  authority  of 
R.  Simlai,14  the  number  (613)  of  the  commandments  as 
an  uncontested  fact,  and  based  their  compositions  on  it, 
Nachmanides  questions  the  whole  matter,  and  shows  that 
the  passages  relating  to  this  enumeration  of  laws  are  only 
of  a  homiletical  nature,  and  thus  of  little  consequence. 
Nay,  he  goes  so  far  as  to  say,  "  Indeed  the  system  how  to 
number  the  commandments  is  a  matter  in  which  I  suspect 
all  of  us  (are  mistaken)  and  the  truth  must  be  left  to  him 
who  will  solve  all  doubts."  We  should  thus  be  inclined  to 
think  that  this  adherence  to  the  words  of  the  earlier  Au- 
thorities was  at  least  as  much  due  to  this  critical  scepti- 
cism as  to  his  conservative  tendencies. 

The  space  left  to  me  I  shall  devote  to  the  second  class 
of  his  writings,  in  which  Nachmanides  worked  less  after 
given  types.  These  reveal  to  us  more  of  his  inner  being, 
and  offer  us  some  insight  into  his  theological  system. 


NACHMANIDES 


113 


The  great  problem  which  seems  to  have  presented 
itself  to  Nachmanides'  mind  was  less  how  to  reconcile 
religion  with  reason  than  how  to  reconcile  man  with 
religion.  What  is  man  ?  The  usual  answer  is  not  flat- 
tering. He  is  an  animal  that  owes  its  existence  to  the 
same  instinct  that  produces  even  the  lower  creatures,  and 
he  is  condemned,  like  them,  to  go  to  a  place  of  worm  and 
maggot.  But,  may  not  one  ask,  why  should  a  creature 
so  lowly  born,  and  doomed  to  so  hapless  a  future,  be 
burdened  with  the  awful  responsibility  of  knowing  that 
he  is  destined  "to  give  reckoning  and  judgment  before 
the  King  of  kings,  the  Holy  One,  blessed  be  He  "  ?  It 
is  true  that  man  is  also  endowed  with  a  heavenly  soul, 
but  this  only  brings  us  back  again  to  the  antithesis  of  flesh 
and  spirit  which  was  the  stumbling-block  of  many  a  theo- 
logical system.  Nor  does  it  help  us  much  towards  the  solu- 
tion of  the  indicated  difficulty  ;  for  what  relation  can  there 
be  between  this  materia  impura  of  body  and  the  pure  in- 
tellect of  soul  ?  And  again,  must  not  the  unfavourable 
condition  in  which  the  latter  is  placed  through  this  uncon- 
genial society  heavily  clog  and  suppress  all  aspiration  for 
perfection  ?  It  is  "  a  house  divided  against  itself,"  doomed 
to  an  everlasting  contest,  without  hope  for  co-operation  or 
even  of  harmony. 

The  works  The  Sacred  Letter  and  The  Law  of  Man 
may  be  considered  as  an  attempt  by  Nachmanides,  if  not 
to  remove,  at  least  to  relieve  the  harshness  of  this  antithe- 
sis. The  former,  in  which  he  blames  Maimonides  for  fol- 
lowing Aristotle  in  denouncing  certain  desires  implanted 
in  us  by  nature  as  ignominious  and  unworthy  of  man, 
may,  perhaps,  be  characterised  as  a  vindication  of  the 
flesh  from  a  religious  point  of  view.  The  contempt  in 


U4  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

which  "that  Greek,"  as  Nachmanides  terms  Aristotle, 
held  the  flesh  is  inconsistent  with  the  theory  of  the 
religious  man,  who  believes  that  everything  (including 
the  body,  with  all  its  functions)  is  created  by  God,  whose 
work  is  perfect  and  good,  without  impure  or  inharmonious 
parts.  It  is  only  sin  and  neglect  that  disfigure  God's  crea- 
tions. I  cannot  enter  into  any  further  details  of  this  work, 
but  I  may  be  permitted  to  remark  that  there  is  a  very 
strong  similarity  between  the  tendency  of  the  Sacred 
Letter  and  certain  leading  ideas  of  Milton.  Indeed,  if 
the  first  two  chapters  of  the  former  were  a  little  con- 
densed and  put  into  English,  they  could  not  be  better 
summarised  than  by  the  famous  lines  in  the  Paradise 
Lost :  — 

Whatever  hypocrites  austerely  talk 
Of  purity,  and  place,  and  innocence, 
Defaming  as  impure  what  God  declares 
Pure,  and  commands  to  some,  leaves  free  to  all, 
Our  Maker  bids  increase ;  who  bids  abstain 
But  our  destroyer,  foe  to  God  and  man  ? 
Hail,  wedded  love,  mysterious  law !  .  .  . 
Far  be  it  that  I  should  write  thee  sin  or  blame 
Or  think  thee  unbefitting  holiest  place, 
Perpetual  fountain  of  domestic  sweets. 

The  second  of  these  two  works,  the  Law  of  Man,  may 
be  regarded  as  a  sanctification  of  grief,  and  particularly 
of  the  grief  of  griefs,  death.  The  bulk  of  the  book  is 
legalistic,  treating  of  mourning  rites,  burial  customs,  and 
similar  topics ;  but  there  is  much  in  the  preface  which 
bears  on  our  subject.  For  here  again  Nachmanides  takes 
the  opportunity  of  combating  a  chilling  philosophy,  which 
tries  to  arm  us  against  suffering  by  stifling  our  emotions. 


NA  CHMANIDES  l  T  5 

"My  son,"  he  says,  "be  not  persuaded  by  certain  prop- 
ositions of  the  great  philosophers  who  endeavour  to 
harden  our  hearts  and  to  deaden  our  sensations  by  their 
idle  comfort,  which  consists  in  denying  the  past  and  de- 
spairing of  the  future.  One  of  them  has  even  declared 
that  there  is  nothing  in  the  world  over  the  loss  of  which 
it  is  worth  crying,  and  the  possession  of  which  would 
justify  joy.  This  is  an  heretical  view.  Our  perfect 
Torah  bids  us  to  be  joyful  in  the  day  of  prosperity  and 
to  shed  tears  in  the  day  of  misfortune.  It  in  no  way 
forbids  crying  or  demands  of  us  to  suppress  our  grief.  On 
the  contrary,  the  Torah  suggests  to  us  that  to  mourn  over 
heavy  losses  is  equivalent  to  a  service  of  God,  leading 
us,  as  it  does,  to  reflect  on  our  end  and  ponder  over  our 
destiny." 

This  destiny,  as  well  as  Reward  and  Punishment  in 
general,  is  treated  in  the  concluding  chapter  of  the  Law 
of  Man,  which  is  known  under  the  title  of  The  Gate  of 
Reward?*  Nachmanides  does  not  conceal  from  himself 
the  difficulties  besetting  inquiries  of  this  description. 
He  knows  well  enough  that  in  the  last  instance  we  must 
appeal  to  that  implicit  faith  in  the  inscrutable  justice  of 
God  with  which  the  believer  begins.  Nevertheless  he 
thinks  that  only  the  "  despisers  of  wisdom "  would  fail 
to  bring  to  this  faith  as  full  a  conviction  as  possible,  which 
latter  is  only  to  be  gained  by  speculation.  I  shall  have 
by  and  by  occasion  to  refer  to  the  results  of  this  specula- 
tion. Here  we  must  only  notice  the  fact  of  Nachmanides 
insisting  on  the  bodily  resurrection  which  will  take  place 
after  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  and  will  be  followed  by 
the  Olam  Habba 16  (the  life  in  the  world  to  come)  of  which 
the  Rabbis  spoke. 


Il6  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Irrational  as  this  belief  may  look,  it  is  only  a  conse- 
quence of  his  theory,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  assigns  even 
to  the  flesh  an  almost  spiritual  importance.  Indeed,  he 
thinks  that  the  soul  may  have  such  an  influence  on  the 
body  as  to  transform  the  latter  into  so  pure  an  essence 
that  it  will  become  safe  for  eternity.  For,  as  he  hints  in 
another  place,  by  the  continual  practising  of  a  thing  the 
whole  man,  the  body  included,  becomes  so  identified  with 
the  thing  that  we  call  him  after  it,  just  as  the  Holy  Singer 
said  :  I  am  prayer,17  so  that  — 

Oft  converse  with  heavenly  habitants 
Begins  to  cast  a  beam  on  the  outward  shape, 
The  unpolluted  temple  of  the  mind, 
And  turns  it  by  degrees  to  the  soul's  essence, 
Till  all  be  made  immortal. 

But  if  even  the  body  holds  such  a  high  position  as  to 
make  all  its  instincts  and  functions,  if  properly  regulated, 
a  service  of  God,  and  to  destine  it  for  a  glorious  future  of 
eternal  bliss  and  rejoicing  in  God,  we  can  easily  imagine 
what  a  high  place  the  soul  must  occupy  in  the  system  of 
Nachmanides.  To  be  sure  it  is  a  much  higher  one  than 
that  to  which  philosophy  would  fain  admit  her.  A  beau- 
tiful parable  of  the  Persian  poet  Yellaladeen  (quoted  by 
the  late  Mr.  Lowell)  narrates  that  "  One  knocked  at  the 
beloved's  door,  and  a  voice  asked  from  within,  *  Who  is 
there  ? '  and  he  answered,  '  It  is  I.'  Then  the  voice  said, 
'  This  house  will  not  hold  me  and  thee,'  and  the  door  was 
not  opened.  Then  went  the  lover  into  the  desert  and 
fasted  and  prayed  in  solitude,  and  after  a  year  he  returned 
and  knocked  again  at  the  door,  and  again  the  voice  asked 
'  Who  is  there  ? '  and  he  said  '  It  is  thyself  ' ;  and  the  door 


NACHMANIDES 


117 


was  opened  to  him."  This  is  also  the  difference  between 
the  two  schools  —  the  mystical  and  the  philosophical  — 
with  regard  to  the  soul.  With  the  rationalist  the  soul  is 
indeed  a  superior  abstract  intelligence  created  by  God,  but, 
like  all  His  creations,  has  an  existence  of  its  own,  and  is 
thus  separated  from  God.  With  the  mystic,  however,  the 
soul  is  God,  or  a  direct  emanation  from  God.  "  For  he 
who  breathes  into  another  thing  (Gen.  ii.  7)  gives  unto  it 
something  of  his  own  breath  (or  soul),"  and  as  it  is  said  in 
Job  xxxii.  8,  "And  the  soul  of  the  Almighty  giveth  them 
understanding."  This  emanation,  or  rather  immanence  — 
for  Nachmanides  insists  in  another  place  that  the  Hebrew 
term  employed  for  it,  Azilutk^  means  a  permanent 
dwelling  with  the  thing  emanating  —  which  became  mani- 
fest with  the  creation  of  man,  must  not  be  confounded 
with  the  moving  soul  (or  the  Nephesh  Chayali)^  which  is 
common  to  man  with  all  creatures. 

It  may  be  remarked  here  that  Nachmanides  endows  all 
animals  with  a  soul  which  is  derived  from  the  "  Superior 
Powers,"  and  its  presence  is  proved  by  certain  marks  of 
intelligence  which  they  show.  By  this  fact  he  tries  to 
account  for  the  law  prohibiting  cruelty  to  animals,  "all 
souls  belonging  to  God."  Their  original  disposition  was, 
it  would  seem,  according  to  Nachmanides,  peaceful  and 
harmless.  . 

About  them  frisking  played 
All  beasts  of  earth,  since  wild,  and  of  all  chace 
In  wood  or  wilderness,  forest  or  den. 

It  was  only  after  man  had  sinned  that  war  entered  into 
creation,  but  with  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  when  sin 
will  disappear,  all  the  living  beings  will  regain  their 


H8  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

primaeval   gentleness,  and   be   reinstituted    in   their   first 
rights. 

The  special  soul  of  man,  however,  or  rather  the  "  over- 
soul,"  was  pre-existent  to  the  creation  of  the  world, 
treasured  up  as  a  wave  in  the  sea  or  fountain  of  souls  - 
dwelling  in  the  eternal  light  and  holiness  of  God.  There, 
in  God,  the  soul  abides  in  its  ideal  existence  before  it 
enters  into  its  material  life  through  the  medium  of  man ; 
though  it  must  be  noted  that,  according  to  Nachmanides' 
belief  in  the  Transmigration  of  souls,  it  is  not  necessary 
to  perceive  in  the  soul  of  every  new-born  child,  "  a  fresh 
message  from  heaven  "  coming  directly  from  the  fountain- 
head.  Nachmanides  finds  this  belief  indicated  in  the  com- 
mandment of  levirate  marriage,  where  the  child  born  of 
the  deceased  brother's  wife  inherits  not  only  the  name  of 
the  brother  of  his  actual  father,  but  also  his  soul,  and  thus 
perpetuates  his  existence  on  earth.  The  fourth  verse  of 
Ecclesiastes  ii.  Nachmanides  seems  to  interpret  to  mean 
that  the  very  generation  which  passes  away  comes  up 
again,  by  which  he  tries  to  explain  the  difficulty  of  God's 
visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  on  their  children  ;  the 
latter  being  the  very  fathers  who  committed  the  sins. 
However,  whatever  trials  and  changes  the  soul  may  have 
to  pass  through  during  its  bodily  existence,  its  origin  is  in 
God  and  thither  it  will  return  in  the  end,  "just  as  the 
waters  rise  always  to  the  same  high  level  from  which  their 
source  sprang  forth." 

It  is  for  this  man,  with  a  body  so  superior,  and  a  soul  so 
sublime  —  more  sublime  than  the  angels  —  that  the  world 
was  created.  I  emphasise  the  last  word,  for  the  belief  in 
the  creation  of  the  world  by  God  from  nothing  forms, 
according  to  Nachmanides,  the  first  of  the  three  funda- 


NACHMANIDES 


119 


mental  dogmas  of  Judaism.  The  other  two  also  refer  to 
God's  relation  to  the  world  and  man.  They  are  the  belief 
in  God's  Providence  and  his  YediahP  Creation  from 
nothing  is  for  Nachmanides  the  keynote  to  his  whole 
religion,  since  it  is  only  by  this  fact,  as  he  points  out  in 
many  places,  that  God  gains  real  dominion  over  nature. 
For,  as  he  says,  as  soon  as  we  admit  the  eternity  of 
matter,  we  must  (logically)  deny  God  even  "  the  power  of 
enlarging  the  wing  of  a  fly,  or  shortening  the  leg  of  an 
ant."  But  the  whole  Torah  is  nothing  if  not  a  record  of 
God's  mastery  in  and  over  the  world,  and  of  His  miracu- 
lous deeds.  One  of  the  first  proclamations  of  Abraham 
to  his  generation  was  that  God  is  the  Lord  (or  Master)  of 
the  world  (Gen.  xviii.  33).  The  injunction  given  to  Abra- 
ham, and  repeated  afterwards  to  the  whole  of  Israel  (Gen. 
xvii.  2,  and  Deut.  xviii.  13),  to  be  perfect  with  God,  Nach- 
manides numbers  as  one  of  the  613  commandments,  and 
explains  it  to  mean  that  man  must  have  a  whole  belief 
in  God  without  blemish  or  reservation,  and  acknowledge 
Him  possessed  of  power  over  nature  and  the  world,  man 
and  beast,  devil  and  angel,  power  being  attributable  to 
Him  alone.  Indeed,  when  the  angel  said  to  Jacob,  "  Why 
dost  thou  ask  after  my  name  "  (Gen,  xxxii.  29),  he  meant 
to  indicate  by  his  question  the  impotence  of  the  heavenly 
host,  so  that  there  is  no  use  in  knowing  their  name,  the 
power  and  might  belonging  only  to  God. 

We  may  venture  even  a  step  further,  and  maintain  that 
in  Nachmanides'  system  there  is  hardly  room  left  for  such 
a  thing  as  nature  or  "the  order  of  the  world."  There  are 
only  two  categories  of  miracles  by  which  the  world  is 
governed,  or  in  which  God's  Providence  is  seen.  The 
one  is  the  category  of  the  manifest  miracles,  as  the  ten 


120  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

plagues  in  Egypt,  or  the  crossing  of  the  Red  Sea;  the 
other  is  that  of  the  hidden  miracles,  which  we  do  not  per- 
ceive as  such,  because  of  their  frequency  and  continuity. 
"  No  man,"  he  declares,  "  can  share  in  the  Torah  of  our 
Teacher,  Moses  (that  is,  can  be  considered  a  follower  of 
the  Jewish  religion),  unless  he  believes  that  all  our  affairs 
and  events,  whether  they  concern  the  masses  or  the  in- 
dividual, are  all  miracles  (worked  by  the  direct  will  of 
God),  attributing  nothing  to  nature  or  to  the  order  of  the 
world."  Under  this  second  order  he  classes  all  the  prom- 
ises the  Torah  makes  to  the  righteous,  and  the  punish- 
ments with  which  evil-doers  are  threatened.  For,  as  he 
points  out  in  many  places,  there  is  nothing  in  the  nature 
of  the  commandments  themselves  that  would  make  their 
fulfilment  necessarily  prolong  the  life  of  man,  and  cause 
the  skies  to  pour  down  rain,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  would 
associate  disobedience  to  them  with  famine  and  death. 
All  these  results  can,  therefore,  only  be  accomplished  in 
a  supernatural  way  by  the  direct  workings  of  God. 

Thus  miracles  are  raised  to  a  place  in  the  regular 
scheme  of  things,  and  the  difficulty  regarding  the  possi- 
bility of  God's  interferences  with  nature  disappears  by 
their  very  multiplication.  But  a  still  more  important 
point  is,  that,  by  this  unbroken  chain  of  miracles,  which 
unconditionally  implies  God's  presence  to  perform  them, 
Nachmanides  arrives  at  a  theory  establishing  a  closer 
contact  between  the  Deity  and  the  world  than  that  set 
forth  by  other  thinkers.  Thus,  he  insists  that  the  term 
Shechinah,  or  Cabod^  (Glory  of  God),  must  not  be  under- 
stood, with  some  Jewish  philosophers,  as  something  sepa- 
rate from  God,  or  as  glory  created  by  God.  "  Were  this 
the  case,"  he  proceeds  to  say,  "  we  could  not  possibly 


NA  CHMANIDES  !  2 1 

say,  '  Blessed  be  the  glory  of  the  Lord  from  his  place/ 
since  every  mark  of  worship  to  anything  created  involves 
the  sin  of  idolatry."  Such  terms  as  Shecliinah,  or  Cabod, 
can  therefore  only  mean  the  immediate  divine  presence. 
This  proves,  as  may  be  noted  in  passing,  how  unphilo- 
sophical  the  idea  of  those  writers  is  who  maintain  that  the 
rigid  monotheism  of  the  Jews  makes  God  so  transcen- 
dental that  He  is  banished  from  the  world.  As  we  see, 
it  is  just  this  assertion  of  His  absolute  Unity  which  not 
only  suffers  no  substitute  for  God,  but  also  removes  every 
separation  between  Him  and  the  world.  Hence  also 
Nachmanides  insists  that  the  prophecy  even  of  the  suc- 
cessors of  Moses  was  a  direct  communion  of  God  with 
the  prophet,  and  not,  as  others  maintained,  furnished 
through  the  medium  of  an  angel. 

The  third  fundamental  dogma,  Yediah,  includes,  accord- 
ing to  Nachmanides,  not  only  the  omniscience  of  God  — 
as  the  term  is  usually  translated  —  but  also  His  recognition 
of  mankind  and  His  special  concern  in  them.  Thus,  he 
explains  the  words  in  the  Bible  with  regard  to  Abraham, 
"For  I  know  him"  (Gen.  xviii.  19),  to  indicate  the  special 
attachment  of  God's  Providence  to  the  patriarch,  which,  on 
account  of  his  righteousness,  was  to  be  uninterrupted  for 
ever ;  whilst  in  other  places  we  have  to  understand,  under 
God's  knowledge  of  a  thing,  his  determination  to  deal  with 
it  compassionately,  as,  for  instance,  when  Scripture  says 
that  God  knew  (Exod.  ii.  25),  it  means  that  His  relation  to 
Israel  emanated  from  His  attribute  of  mercy  and  love. 
But  just  as  God  knows  (which  means  loves)  the  world,  He 
requires  also  to  be  recognised  and  known  by  it.  "  For  this 
was  the  purpose  of  the  whole  creation,  that  man  should 
recognise  and  know  Him  and  give  praise  to  His  name,"  as 


I22  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

it  is  said,  "  Everything  that  is  called  by  my  name  (mean- 
ing, chosen  to  promulgate  God's  name),  for  my  glory  have 
I  created  it." 

It  is  this  fact  which  gives  Israel  their  high  prerogative, 
for  by  receiving  the  Torah  they  were  the  first  to  know 
God's  name,  to  which  they  remained  true  in  spite  of  all 
adversities;  and  thus  accomplished  God's  intention  in 
creating  the  world.  It  is,  again,  by  this  Torah  that  the 
whole  of  Israel  not  only  succeeded  in  being  real  prophets 
(at  the  moment  of  the  Revelation),  but  also  became  Segu- 
lah^  which  indicates  the  inseparable  attachment  between 
God  and  His  people,  whilst  the  righteous  who  never  dis- 
obey His  will  become  the  seatyof  His  throne. 

The  position  of  the  rest  of  humanity  is  also  determined 
by  their  relation  to  the  Torah.  "  It  is,"  Nachmanides  tells 
us,  "  a  main  principle  to  know  that  all  that  man  contrives 
to  possess  of  knowledge  and  wisdom  is  only  the  fruits  of 
the  Torah  or  the  fruits  of  its  fruits.  But  for  this  know- 
ledge there  would  be  no  difference  between  man  and  the 
lower  animated  species.  The  existence  of  the  civilised 
nations  of  the  world  does  not  disprove  this  rule  "  both 
Christians  and  Mahometans  being  also  the  heirs  of  the 
Torah.  For  when  the  Romans  gained  strength  over 
Israel  they  made  them  translate  the  Torah  which  they 
studied,  and  they  even  accommodated  some  of  their  laws 
and  institutions  to  those  of  the  Bible."  Those  nations, 
however,  who  live  far  away  from  the  centre  of  the  world 
(the  Holy  Land)  and  never  come  into  contact  with  Israel 
are  outside  the  pale  of  civilisation,  and  can  hardly  be 
ranked  together  with  the  human  species.  "  They  are  the 
isles  afar  off,  that  have  not  heard  my  fame,  neither  have 
seen  my  glory." 


NACHMANIDES 


123 


What  Nachmanides  meant  by  maintaining  that  all  know- 
ledge and  wisdom  were  "  the  fruits  of  the  Torah,  or  the 
fruits  of  these  fruits,"  will  be  best  seen  from  his  Commen- 
tary on  the  Pentateuch.  I  have  already  made  use  of  this 
Commentary  in  the  preceding  quotations,  but,  being  the 
greatest  of  the  works  of  Nachmanides,  it  calls  for  some 
special  attention  by  itself.  Its  general  purpose  is  edifica- 
tion, or  as  he  says,  "  to  appease  the  mind  of  the  students 
(labouring  under  persecution  and  troubles)  when  they  read 
the  portion  on  Sabbaths  and  festivals,  and  to  attract  their 
heart  by  simple  explanations  and  sweet  words."  The  ex- 
planations occupy  a  considerable  space.  As  Dr.  Perles 
has  shown  in  his  able  essay  on  this  work  of  Nachmanides, 
our  author  neglected  no  resource  of  philology  or  archae- 
ology accessible  in  his  age  which  could  contribute  to  es- 
tablish the  "  simple  explanations "  on  a  sound  scientific 
basis.  The  prominent  feature  of  this  Commentary,  how- 
ever, is  the  "  sweet  words."  Indeed,  how  sweet  and  sooth- 
ing to  his  contemporaries  must  have  been  such  words  as 
we  read  at  the  end  of  the  "  Song  of  Moses  "  (Deut.  xxxii.)  : 
"  And  behold  there  is  nothing  conditional  in  this  Song.  It 
is  a  charter  testifying  that  we  shall  have  to  suffer  heavily 
for  our  sins,  but  that,  nevertheless,  God  will  not  destroy 
us,  being  reconciled  to  us  (though  we  shall  have  no  merits), 
and  forgiving  our  sins  for  his  name's  sake  alone.  .  .  .  And 
so  our  Rabbis  said,  Great  is  this  song,  embracing  as  it 
does  both  the  past  (of  Israel)  and  the  future,  this  world 
and  the  world  to  come.  .  .  .  And  if  this  song  were  the 
composition  of  a  mere  astrologer  we  should  be  constrained 
to  believe  in  it,  considering  that  all  its  words  were  ful- 
filled. How  much  more  have  we  to  hope  with  all  our 
hearts  and  to  trust  to  the  word  of  God,  through  the  mouth 


124  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

of  his  prophet  Moses,  the  faithful  in  all  his  house,  like  unto 
whom  there  was  none,  whether  before  him  or  after  him." 
A  part  of  these  sweet  words  may  also  be  seen  in  the  nu- 
merous passages  in  which  he  attempts  to  account  for 
various  laws,  and  to  detect  their  underlying  principles. 

For  though  "  the  Torah  is  the  expression  of  God's  simple 
and  absolute  will,  which  man  has  to  follow  without  any 
consideration  of  reward,"  still  this  will  is  not  arbitrary,  and 
even  that  class  of  laws  which  are  called  chukkim  ^  (which 
means,  according  to  some  Jewish  commentators,  motive- 
less decrees)  have  their  good  reasons,  notwithstanding  that 
they  are  unfathomable  to  us.  "  They  are  all  meant  for  the 
good  of  man,  either  to  keep  aloof  from  us  something  hurt- 
ful, or  to  educate  us  in  goodness,  or  to  remove  from  us  an 
evil  belief  and  to  make  us  know  his  name.  This  is  what 
they  (the  Rabbis)  meant  by  saying  that  commandments 
have  a  purifying  purpose,  namely,  that  man  being  purified 
and  tried  by  them  becomes  as  one  without  alloy  of  bad 
thoughts  and  unworthy  qualities."  Indeed,  the  soul  of 
man  is  so  sensitive  to  every  impurity  that  it  suffers  a  sort 
of  infection  even  by  an  unintentional  sin.  Hence  the  in- 
junction to  bring  a  Korban  (sacrifice)  even  in  this  case ; 
the  effect  of  the  Korban,  as  its  etymology  (^Karab)^  indi- 
cates, is  to  bring  man  back  to  God,  or  rather  to  facilitate 
this  approach.  All  this  again  is,  as  Nachmanides  points 
out,  only  an  affluence  from  God's  mercy  and  love  to  man- 
kind. God  derives  no  benefit  from  it.  "  If  he  be  right- 
eous what  can  he  give  thee  ?  "  And  even  those  laws  and 
institutions  which  are  intended  to  commemorate  God's 
wonders  and  the  creation  of  the  world  (for  instance,  the 
Passover  festival  and  the  Sabbath)  are  not  meant  for  His 
glorification,  or,  as  Heine  maliciously  expressed  it :  — 


NA  CHMANIDES  !  2  5 

Der  Weltkapellenmeister  hier  oben 
Er  selbst  sogar  hort  gerne  loben 
Gleichfalls  seine  Werke.  .  .  . 

"  For  all  the  honour  (we  give  to  Him),  and  the  praising  of 
His  work  are  counted  by  Him  less  than  nothing  and  as 
vanity  to  Him."  What  He  desires  is  that  we  may  know 
the  truth,  and  be  confirmed  in  it,  for  this  makes  us  worthy 
of  finding  in  Him  "  our  Protector  and  King." 

The  lessons  which  Nachmanides  draws  from  the  various 
Biblical  narratives  also  belong  to  these  "  sweet  words." 
They  are  mostly  of  a  typical  character.  For,  true  as  all 
the  stories  in  the  Scriptures  are,  "  the  whole  Torah  is,"  as 
he  tells  us  (with  allusion  to  Gen.  v.  I.),  "the  book  of  the 
generations  of  Adam,"  or,  as  we  should  say,  a  history  of 
humanity  written  in  advance.  Thus  the  account  of  the 
six  days  of  the  creation  is  turned  into  a  prophecy  of  the 
most  important  events  which  would  occur  during  the  suc- 
ceeding six  thousand  years,  whilst  the  Sabbath  is  a  fore- 
cast of  the  millennium  in  the  seventh  thousand,  which  will 
be  the  day  of  the  Lord.  Jacob  and  Esau  are,  as  in  the 
old  Rabbinic  homilies  generally,  the  prototypes  of  Israel 
and  Rome ;  and  so  is  the  battle  of  Moses  and  Joshua  with 
Amalek  indicative  of  the  war  which  Elijah  and  the 
Messiah  the  son  of  Joseph  will  wage  against  Edom  (the 
prototype  of  Rome),  before  the  Redeemer  from  the  house 
of  David  will  appear.25  Sometimes  these  stories  convey 
both  a  moral  and  a  pre-justification  of  what  was  destined  to 
happen  to  Israel.  So  Nachmanides'  remarks  with  refer- 
ence to  Sarah's  treatment  of  Hagar  (Gen.  xvi.  6) :  "  Our 
mother  Sarah  sinned  greatly  by  inflicting  this  pain  on 
Hagar,  as  did  also  Abraham,  who  allowed  such  a  thing  to 
pass ;  but  God  saw  her  affliction  and  rewarded  her  by  a 


126  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

son  (the  ancestor  of  a  wild  race),  who  would  inflict  on 
the  seed  of  Abraham  and  Sarah  every  sort  of  oppres- 
sion." In  this  he  alluded  to  the  Islamic  empires.  Nor 
does  he  approve  of  Abraham's  conduct  on  the  occasion  of 
his  coming  to  Egypt,  when  he  asked  Sarah  to  pass  as  his 
sister  (Gen.  xii.).  "Unintentionally,"  Nachmanides  says, 
"  Abraham,  under  the  fear  of  being  murdered,  committed 
a  great  sin  when  he  exposed  his  virtuous  wife  to  such  a 
temptation.  For  he  ought  to  have  trusted  that  God  would 
save  both  him  and  his  wife.  ...  It  is  on  account  of  this 
deed  that  his  children  had  to  suffer  exile  under  the  rule  of 
Pharaoh.  There,  where  the  sin  was  committed,  also  the 
judgment  took  place."  It  is  also  worth  noticing  that,  in 
opposition  to  Maimonides,  he  allows  no  apology  for  the 
attack  of  Simeon  and  Levi  on  the  population  of  Shechem 
(Gen.  xxxiv.  25).  It  is  true  that  they  were  idolaters,  im- 
moral, and  steeped  in  every  abomination  ;  but  Jacob  and 
his  sons  were  not  commissioned  with  executing  justice  on 
them.  The  people  of  Shechem  trusted  their  word,  there- 
fore they  ought  to  have  spared  them.  Hence  Jacob's  pro- 
test, and  his  curse  against  their  wrath,  which  would  have 
been  quite  unjustified  had  he  looked  on  the  action  of  his 
sons  as  a  good  work. 

Besides  these  typical  meanings,  the  matters  of  the 
Torah  have  also  their  symbolical  importance,  which  places 
them  almost  above  the  sphere  of  human  conception ;  they 
are  neither  exactly  what  they  seem  to  be  nor  entirely  what 
their  name  implies,  but  a  reflex  from  things  unseen,  which 
makes  any  human  interference  both  preposterous  and  dan- 
gerous. Of  "the  things  called  Tree  of  Life  and  Tree  of 
Knowledge,"  Nachmanides  tells  us  that  their  mystery  is 
very  great,  reaching  into  higher  worlds.  Otherwise,  why 


NACHMANIDES 


127 


should  God,  who  is  good  and  the  dispenser  of  good,  have 
prevented  Adam  from  eating  the  fruit  (of  the  latter),  whilst 
in  another  place  he  says  :  "  And  if  thou  wilt  be  worthy,  and 
understand  the  mystery  of  the  word  Bereshith^  (with 
which  the  Torah  begins),  thou  wilt  see  that  in  truth  the 
Scripture,  though  apparently  speaking  of  matters  here  below 
(on  earth),  is  always  pointing  to  things  above  (heaven); "  for 
"  every  glory  and  every  wonder,  and  every  deep  mystery, 
and  all  beautiful  wisdom  are  hidden  in  the  Torah,  sealed 
up  in  her  treasures." 

It  is  very  characteristic  of  the  bent  of  Nachmanides' 
mind,  that  he  is  perhaps  the  first  Jewish  writer  who  men- 
tions the  apocryphal  book  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  which 
he  knew  from  a  Syriac  version,  and  which  he  believed  to 
be  genuine.  And  when  we  read  there  (vii.  7-25),  "Where- 
fore I  prayed  and  understanding  was  given  to  me.  I  called 
upon  God  and  the  spirit  of  wisdom  came  upon  me.  .  .  . 
For  God  has  given  me  unmistakable  knowledge  to  know 
how  the  world  was  made,  and  the  operations  of  the  planets. 
The  beginning,  ending,  and  midst  of  the  times,  the  alter- 
ations and  the  turnings  of  the  sun,  the  changes  of  the 
seasons,  the  natures  of  the  living  creatures  and  the  furies 
of  the  wild  beasts,  the  force  of  the  spirits  and  the  reason- 
ings of  men,  the  diversities  of  plants  and  the  virtues  of  the 
roots.  All  such  things  that  are  either  secret  or  manifest, 
them  I  knew"— the  wise  king  was,  according  to  Nach- 
manides (who  quotes  the  passages  which  I  have  just  cited), 
speaking  of  the  Torah,  which  is  identical  with  this  wis- 
dom, a  wisdom  which  existed  before  the  creation,  and  by 
which  God  planned  the  world.  Hence  it  bears  the  impres- 
sion of  all  the  universe,  whilst  on  the  other  hand  when 
it  is  said,  "  The  king  brought  me  into  his  chambers," 


I28  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

those  secret  recesses  of  the  Torah  are  meant  in  which  all 
the  great  mysteries  relating  to  Creation  and  to  the  Chariot 
(Ezekiel  i.)  are  hidden. 

We  must  content  ourselves  with  these  few  sparks 
struck  from  the  glowing  fires  of  these  inner  compart- 
ments, which,  imperfectly  luminous  as  my  treatment  has 
left  them,  may  yet  shed  some  light  on  the  personality  of 
Nachmanides,  which  is  the  main  object  of  this  essay. 
But  I  do  not  propose  to  accompany  the  mystic  into  the 
"  chambers  of  the  king,"  lest  we  may  soon  get  into  a 
labyrinth  of  obscure  terms  and  strange  ways  of  thinking 
for  which  the  Ariadne  thread  is  still  wanting.  We  might 
also  be  confronted  by  the  Fifty  Gates  of  Understanding, 
the  Thirty-Two  Paths  of  Wisdom,  and  the  Two  Hundred 
and  Thirty-One  Permutations  or  Ciphers  of  the  Alphabet, 
the  key  to  which  I  do  not  hold.  It  is  also  questionable 
whether  it  would  always  be  worth  while  to  seek  for  it. 
When  one,  for  instance,  sees  such  a  heaping  on  of  nouns 
(with  some  Cabbalists)  as  the  Land  of  Life,  the  Land  of 
Promise,  the  Lord  of  the  World,  the  Foundation  Stone, 
Zion,  Mother,  Daughter,  Sister,  the  Congregation  of 
Israel,  the  Twin  Roes,  the  Bride,  Blue,  End,  Oral  Law, 
Sea,  Wisdom,  etc.,  meant  to  represent  the  same  thing  or 
attribute,  and  to  pass  one  into  another,  one  cannot  pos- 
sibly help  feeling  some  suspicion  that  one  stands  before 
a  conglomerate  of  words  run  riot,  over  which  the  writer 
had  lost  all  control. 

Indeed  Nachmanides  himself,  in  the  preface  to  the 
above-mentioned  Commentary,  gives  us  the  kind  advice 
not  to  meditate,  or  rather  brood,  over  the  mystical  hints 
which  are  scattered  over  this  work,  "  speculation  being 
(in  such  matters)  folly,  and  reasoning  over  them  fraught 


NACHMANIDES 


129 


with  danger."  Indeed,  the  danger  is  obvious.  I  have, 
to  give  one  or  two  instances,  already  alluded  to  the  theory 
which  accepts  the  Torah  or  the  Wisdom  as  an  agent  in 
the  creation  of  the  world.  But  the  mystic  pushes  further, 
and  asks  for  the  Primal  Being  to  which  this  Wisdom  owes 
its  origin.  The  answer  given  is  from  the  great  Nothing, 
as  it  is  written,  And  the  Wisdom  shall  be  found  from 
Nothing.27  What  is  intended  by  this,  if  it  means  anything, 
is  probably  to  divest  the  first  cause  of  every  possible 
quality  which  by  its  very  qualifying  nature  must  be  limit- 
ing and  exclusive.  Hence,  God  becomes  the  Unknowable. 
But  suppose  a  metaphysical  Hamlet,  who,  handling  words 
indelicately,  should  impetuously  exclaim,  To  be  or  not  to 
be,  that  is  the  question  ?  —  into  what  abyss  of  utter  nega- 
tions would  he  drag  all  those  who  despair,  by  his  terrible 
Nothing. 

On  the  other  hand,  into  what  gross  anthropomorphisms 
may  we  be  drawn  by  roughly  handling  certain  metaphors 
which  some  Cabbalists  have  employed  in  their  struggling 
after  an  adequate  expression  of  God's  manifestations  in 
His  attribute  of  love,  if  we  forget  for  a  single  moment 
that  they  are  only  figures  of  speech,  but  liable  to  get 
defiled  by  the  slightest  touch  of  "an  unchaste  thought 

But  the  greater  the  dangers  that  beset  the  path  of 
mysticism,  the  deeper  the  interest  which  we  feel  in  the 
mystic.  In  connection  with  the  above-mentioned  warning, 
Nachmanides  cites  the  words  from  the  Scriptures,  "  But 
let  not  the  priests  and  the  people  break  through  to  come 
up  unto  the  Lord,  lest  he  break  forth  upon  them  "  (Exod. 
xix.  24).  Nevertheless,  when  we  read  in  the  Talmud  the 
famous  story  of  the  four  Rabbis28  who  went  up  into  the 
Pardes,  or  Garden  of  Mystical  Contemplation,  we  do  not 
K 


130  .STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

withhold  our  sympathy,  either  from  Ben  Azzai,  who  shot 
a  glance  and  died,  or  from  Ben  Zoma,  who  shot  a  glance 
and  was  struck  (in  his  mind).  Nay,  we  feel  the  greatest 
admiration  for  these  daring  spirits,  who,  in  their  passion- 
ate attempt  to  "break  through"  the  veil  before  the 
Infinite,  hazarded  their  lives,  and  even  that  which  is 
dearer  than  life,  their  minds,  for  a  single  glance.  And 
did  R.  Meir  deny  his  sympathies  even  to  Other  One 
or  Elisha  ben  Abuyah,  who  "cut  down  the  plants"? 
He  is  said  to  have  heard  a  voice  from  heaven,  "  Return, 
oh  backsliding  children,  except  Other  One,"  which  pre- 
vented his  repentance.  Poor  fallen  Acher,  he  mistook 
hell  for  heaven.  But  do  not  the  struggle  and  despair 
which  led  to  this  unfortunate  confusion  rather  plead  for 
our  commiseration  ? 

Nachmanides,  however,  in  his  gentle  way,  did  not  mean 
to  storm  heaven.  Like  R.  Akiba,  "  he  entered  in  peace, 
and  departed  in  peace."  And  it  was  by  this  peacefulness 
of  his  nature  that  he  gained  an  influence  over  posterity 
which  is  equalled  only  by  that  of  Maimonides.  "  If  he 
was  not  a  profound  thinker,"  like  the  author  of  the  Guide 
of  the  Perplexed,  he  had  that  which  is  next  best  —  "  he 
felt  profoundly."  Some  writers  of  a  rather  reactionary 
character  even  went  so  far  as  to  assign  to  him  a  higher 
place  than  to  Maimonides.  This  is  unjust.  What  a 
blank  would  there  have  been  in  Jewish  thought  but  for 
Maimonides'  great  work,  on  which  the  noblest  thinkers  of 
Israel  fed  for  centuries  !  As  long  as  Job  and  Ecclesi- 
astes  hold  their  proper  place  in  the  Bible,  and  the  Talmud 
contains  hundreds  of  passages  suggesting  difficulties  re- 
lating to  such  problems  as  the  creation  of  the  world,  God's 
exact  relation  to  it,  the  origin  of  evil,  free  will  and  pre- 


NA  CHMANIDES  j  3 1 

destination,  none  will  persuade  me  that  philosophy  does 
not  form  an  integral  part  of  Jewish  tradition,  which,  in  its 
historical  developments,  took  the  shape  which  Maimonides 
and  his  successors  gave  to  it.  If  Maimonides'  Guide, 
which  he  considered  as  an  interpretation  of  the  Bible  and 
of  many  strange  sayings  in  the  old  Rabbinic  homilies 
in  the  Talmud,  is  Aristotelian  in  its  tone,  so  is  tradition 
too ;  even  the  Talmud  in  many  places  betrays  all  sorts 
of  foreign  influences,  and  none  would  think  of  declaring 
it  un-Jewish  on  this  ground.  I  may  also  remark  in  pass- 
ing that  the  certainty  with  which  some  writers  deprecate 
the  aids  which  religion  may  receive  from  philosophy  is 
a  little  too  hasty.  For  the  question  will  always  remain, 
What  religion  ?  The  religion  of  R.  Moses  of  Tachau  or 
R.  Joseph  Jabez29  would  certainly  have  been  greatly 
endangered  by  the  slightest  touch  of  speculation,  while 
that  of  Bachya,30  Maimonides,  Jedaiah  of  Bedres,  and 
Delmedigo  undoubtedly  received  from  philosophy  its 
noblest  support,  and  became  intensified  by  the  union. 

But  apart  from  that  consideration,  the  sphere  of  the  ac- 
tivity of  these  two  leaders  seems  to  have  been  so  widely 
different  that  it  is  hardly  just  to  consider  them  as  antag- 
onists, or  at  least  to  emphasise  the  antagonism  too  much. 
Maimonides  wrote  his  chief  work,  the  Guide,  for  the  few 
elect,  who,  like  Ibn  Tibbon31  for  instance,  would  traverse 
whole  continents  if  a  single  syllogism  went  wrong.  And 
if  he  could  be  of  use  to  one  wise  man  of  this  stamp, 
Maimonides  would  do  so  at  the  risk  of  "  saying  things 
unsuitable  for  ten  thousand  fools."  But  with  Nach- 
manides,  it  would  seem,  it  was  these  ten  thousand  who 
formed  the  main  object  of  his  tender  care.  They  are,  as 
we  have  seen,  cultivated  men,  indeed  "students,"  having 


132  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

enjoyed  a  proper  education;  but  the  happy  times  of 
abstract  thinking  have  gone,  and  being  under  a  perpetual 
strain  of  persecutions  and  cares,  they  long  for  the  Sabbath 
and  Festivals,  which  would  bring  them  both  bodily  and 
spiritual  recreation.  They  find  no  fault  with  religion,  a 
false  syllogism  does  not  jar  on  their  ears;  what  they  are 
afraid  of  is  that,  being  engaged  as  they  are,  all  the  six 
days  of  work,  in  their  domestic  affairs,  religion  may  be 
too  good  a  thing  for  them.  "To  appease  their  minds," 
to  edify  them,  to  make  life  more  sweet  and  death  less 
terrible  to  them,  and  to  show  them  that  even  their  weak- 
nesses, as  far  as  they  are  conditioned  by  nature,  are  not 
irreconcilable  with  a  holy  life,  was  what  Nachmanides 
strove  after.  Now  and  then  he  permits  them  a  glance 
into  the  mystical  world  in  which  he  himself  loved  to  move, 
but  he  does  not  care  to  stifle  their  senses  into  an  idle 
contemplation,  and  passes  quickly  to  some  more  practical 
application.  To  be  sure,  the  tabernacle  is  nothing  but  a 
complete  map  of  the  superlunar  world;  but  nevertheless 
its  rather  minute  description  is  meant  to  teach  us  "that 
God  desires  us  to  work." 

This  tendency  toward  being  useful  to  the  great  majority 
of  mankind  may  account  for  the  want  of  consistency  of 
which  Nachmanides  was  so  often  accused.  It  is  only  the 
logician  who  can  afford  to  be  thoroughgoing  in  his  theory, 
and  even  he  would  become  most  absurd  and  even  danger- 
ous but  for  the  redeeming  fact  "  that  men  are  better  than 
their  principles."  But  with  Nachmanides  these  "prin- 
ciples "  would  have  proved  even  more  fatal.  Could  he, 
for  instance,  have  upset  authority  in  the  face  of  the  ten 
thousand  ?  They  need  to  be  guided  rather  than  to  guide. 
But  he  does  not  want  them  to  follow  either  the  Gaon  or 


NACHMANIDES 


133 


anybody  else  slavishly,  "  the  gates  of  wisdom  never  having 
been  shut,"  whilst  on  the  other  hand  he  hints  to  them  that 
there  is  something  divine  in  every  man,  which  places  him 
at  least  on  the  same  high  level  with  any  authority.  Take 
another  instance  —  his  wavering  attitude  between  the 
Maimonists  and  the  Anti-Maimonists,  for  which  he  was 
often  censured.  Apart  from  other  reasons,  to  which  I 
have  pointed  above,  might  he  not  have  felt  that,  in  spite 
of  his  personal  admiration  for  Maimonides'  genius,  he  had 
no  right  to  put  himself  entirely  on  the  side  where  there 
was  little  room  for  the  ten  thousand  who  were  entrusted 
to  his  guidance,  whilst  the  French  Rabbis,  with  all  their 
prejudices  and  intolerance,  would  never  deny  their  sym- 
pathies to  simple  emotional  folk  ? 

This  tender  and  absorbing  care  for  the  people  in  gen- 
eral may  also  account  for  the  fact  that  we  do  not  know 
of  a  single  treatise  by  Nachmanides  of  a  purely  Cabba- 
listic character  in  the  style  of  the  Book  of  Weight,  by 
Moses  de  Leon,  or  the  Orchard,  by  R.  Moses  Cordovora, 
or  the  Tree  of  Life  by  R.  Isaac  Loria.32  The  story  that 
attributes  to  him  the  discovery  of  the  Zohar  in  a  cave  in 
Palestine,  from  whence  he  sent  it  to  Catalonia,  needs  as 
little  refutation  as  the  other  story  connected  with  his 
conversion  to  the  Cabbalah,  which  is  even  more  silly  and 
of  such  a  nature  as  not  to  bear  repetition.  The  Lilac  of 
Mysteries'®1  and  other  mystical  works  passed  also  for  a 
long  time  under  his  name,  but  their  claim  to  this  honour 
has  been  entirely  disproved  by  the  bibliographers,  and 
they  rank  now  among  the  psendepigraphica.  It  is  true 
that  R.  Nissim,  of  Gerona,  said  of  Nachmanides  that  he 
was  too  much  addicted  to  the  belief  in  the  Cabbalah,  and 
as  a  fellow-countryman  he  may  have  had  some  personal 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

knowledge  about  the  matter.  But  as  far  as  his  writings 
go,  this  belief  finds  expression  only  in  incidental  remarks 
and  occasional  citations  from  the  Bahir,34  which  he  never 
thrusts  upon  the  reader.  It  was  chiefly  when  philosophy 
called  in  question  his  deep  sympathies  with  even  lower 
humanity,  and  threatened  to  withdraw  them  from  those 
ennobling  influences  under  which  he  wanted  to  keep  them, 
that  he  asserted  his  mystical  theories. 

Nachmanides'  inconsistency  has  also  proved  beneficial 
in  another  respect.  For  mysticism  has,  by  its  over- 
emphasising of  the  divine  in  man,  shown  a  strong  ten- 
dency to  remove  God  altogether  and  replace  Him  by  the 
creature  of  His  hands.  Witness  only  the  theological 
bubble  of  Shabbethai  Tsebi  —  happily  it  burst  quickly 
enough  —  which  resulted  in  mere  idolatry  (in  more  polite 
language,  Hero  Worship)  on  the  one  side,  and  in  the 
grossest  antinomianism  on  the  other.  Nachmanides, 
however,  with  a  happy  inconsistency,  combined  with  the 
belief  of  man's  origin  in  God,  a  not  less  strong  conviction 
of  man's  liability  to  sin,  of  the  fact  that  he  does  sin  — 
even  the  patriarchs  were  not  free  from  it,  as  we  have  seen 
above  —  and  that  this  sin  does  alienate  man  from  God. 
This  healthy  control  over  man's  extravagant  idea  of  his 
own  species  was  with  Nachmanides  also  a  fruit  of  the 
Torah,  within  the  limits  of  which  everything  must  move, 
the  mystic  and  his  aspirations  included,  whilst  its  fair 
admixture  of  365  Do  nofs  with  248  Do's  preserved  him 
from  that  "  holy  doing  nothing  "  which  so  many  mystics 
indulged  in,  and  made  his  a  most  active  life. 

Much  of  this  activity  was  displayed  in  Palestine,  "the 
land  to  which  the  providence  of  God  is  especially  at- 
tached," and  which  was,  as  with  R.  Judah  Hallevi,  always 


NACHMANIDES 


135 


"his  ideal  home."  There  he  not  only  completed  his 
Commentary  on  the  Pentateuch,  but  also  erected  syna- 
gogues, and  engaged  in  organising  communities,  whose 
tone  he  tried  to  elevate  both  by  his  lectures  and  by  his 
sermons.  His  career  in  Palestine  was  not  a  long  one, 
for  he  lived  there  only  about  three  years,  and  in  1270 
he  must  already  have  been  dead.  A  pretty  legend  nar- 
rates that  when  he  emigrated  to  Palestine  his  pupils  asked 
him  to  give  them  a  sign  enabling  them  to  ascertain  the 
day  of  his  death.  He  answered  them  that  on  that  day 
a  rift  in  the  shape  of  a  lamp  would  be  seen  in  the  tomb- 
stone of  his  mother.  After  three  years  a  pupil  suddenly 
noticed  this  rift,  when  the  mourning  over  the  Rabbi  began. 
Thus,  stone,  or  anything  else  earthly,  breaks  finally,  and 
the  life  of  the  master  passes  into  light. 

What  life  meant  to  him,  how  deeply  he  was  convinced 
that  there  is  no  other  life  but  that  originating  in  God,  how 
deeply  stirred  his  soul  was  by  the  consciousness  of  sin, 
what  agonies  the  thought  of  the  alienation  from  God 
caused  him,  how  he  felt  that  there  is  nothing  left  to  him 
but  to  throw  himself  upon  the  mercy  of  God,  and  how  he 
rejoiced  in  the  hope  of  a  final  reunion  with  Him  —  of  all 
these  sentiments  we  find  the  best  expression  in  the  follow- 
ing religious  poem,  with  which  this  paper  may  conclude. 
Nachmanides  composed  it  in  Hebrew,  and  it  is  still  pre- 
served in  some  rituals  as  a  hymn,  recited  on  the  Day  of 
Atonement.  It  is  here  given  in  the  English  translation  of 
Mrs.  Henry  Lucas.35 

Ere  time  began,  ere  age  to  age  had  thrilled, 
I  waited  in  his  storehouse,  as  he  willed ; 
He  gave  me  being,  but,  my  years  fulfilled, 

I  shall  be  summoned  back  before  the  King. 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

He  called  the  hidden  to  the  light  of  day, 
To  right  and  left,  each  side  the  fountain  lay, 
From  out  the  stream  and  down  the  steps,  the  way 
That  led  me  to  the  garden  of  the  King. 

Thou  gavest  me  a  light  my  path  to  guide, 
To  prove  my  heart's  recesses  still  untried ; 
And  as  I  went,  thy  voice  in  warning  cried : 

"  Child  !  fear  thou  him  who  is  thy  God  and  King ! " 

True  weight  and  measure  learned  my  heart  from  thee ; 
If  blessings  follow,  then  what  joy  for  me  ! 
If  nought  but  sin,  all  mine  the  shame  must  be, 
For  that  was  not  determined  by  the  King. 

I  hasten,  trembling,  to  confess  the  whole 
Of  my  transgressions,  ere  I  reach  the  goal 
Where  mine  own  words  must  witness  'gainst  my  soul, 
And  who  dares  doubt  the  writing  of  the  King? 

Erring,  I  wandered  in  the  wilderness, 

In  passion's  grave  nigh  sinking  powerless  ; 

Now  deeply  I  repent,  in  sore  distress, 

That  I  kept  not  the  statutes  of  the  King ! 

With  worldly  longings  was  my  bosom  fraught, 
Earth's  idle  toys  and  follies  all  I  sought ; 
Ah!  when  he  judges  joys  so  dearly  bought, 

How  greatly  shall  I  fear  my  Lord  and  King  ! 

Now  conscience-stricken,  humbled  to  the  dust, 
Doubting  himself,  in  thee  alone  his  trust, 
He  shrinks  in  terror  back,  for  God  is  just  — 
How  can  a  sinner  hope  to  reach  the  King? 

Oh,  be  thy  mercy  in  the  balance  laid, 

To  hold  thy  servant's  sins  more  lightly  weighed, 

When,  his  confession  penitently  made, 

He  answers  for  his  guilt  before  the  King. 


NA  CHMA  NIDES  r  3  7 

Thine  is  the  love,  O  God,  and  thine  the  grace, 
That  folds  the  sinner  in  its  mild  embrace ; 
Thine  the  forgiveness,  bridging  o'er  the  space 

'Twixt  man's  works  and  the  task  set  by  the  King. 

Unheeding  all  my  sins,  I  cling  to  thee ; 
I  know  that  mercy  shall  thy  footstool  be : 
Before  I  call,  oh,  do  thou  answer  me, 

For  nothing  dare  I  claim  of  thee,  my  King ! 

O  thou,  who  makest  guilt  to  disappear, 
My  help,  my  hope,  my  rock,  I  will  not  fear ; 
Though  thou  the  body  hold  in  dungeon  drear, 
The  soul  has  found  the  palace  of  the  King ! 

POSTSCRIPT 

The  third  letter  of  Nachmanides  to  which  I  have 
alluded  above,  is  embodied  in  the  following  will  by  R. 
Solomon,  son  of  the  martyr  Isaac.  Neither  the  date 
nor  the  country  of  the  testator  is  known,  but  style  and 
language  make  it  probable  that  he  was  a  Spanish  Jew, 
and  lived  in  the  fourteenth  century.  I  give  here  a  trans- 
lation from  the  whole  document  as  it  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Manuscripts. 

These  are  the  regulations  which  I,  Solomon,  the  son  of  the  mar- 
tyr, Rabbi  Isaac,  the  son  of  R.  Zadok,  of  blessed  memory,  draw 
up  for  myself.  That  as  long  as  I  am  in  good  health,  and  free 
from  accident,  and  think  of  it,  I  shall  not  eat  before  I  have  studied 
one  page  of  the  Talmud  or  of  its  commentaries.  Should  I  trans- 
gress this  rule  intentionally,  I  must  not  drink  wine  on  that  day,  or 
I  shall  pay  half  a  Zehub 36  to  charity.  Again,  that  I  shall  every 
week  read  the  Lesson  twice  in  the  Hebrew  text,  and  once  in  the 
Aramaic  version.  Should  I  intentionally  omit  completing  the 
Lesson  as  above,  then  I  must  pay  two  Zehubs  to  charity.  Again, 
that  I  shall  every  Sabbath  take  three  meals,  consisting  of  bread  or 
fruit.  Should  I  omit  to  do  so?  I  must  give  in  charity  half  a  Zehub. 


138  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Again,  in  order  to  subdue  my  appetites,  and  not  to  enjoy  in  this 
world  more  than  is  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  my  body,  I 
must  not  eat  at  one  meal  more  than  one  course  of  meat,  and  not 
more  than  two  courses  altogether;  nor  must  I  drink  more  than 
two  cups  of  wine  at  one  meal,  apart  from  the  blessing-cup  (over 
which  grace  is  said),  except  on  Sabbath,  Festivals,  Chanukah  (the 
Maccabean  Dedication  Feast),  New  Moon,  and  at  other  religious 
meals  (for  instance,  wedding-dinners  and  similar  festive  occa- 
sions). Again,  I  must  not  have  any  regular  meal  on  the  day  pre- 
ceding Sabbath  or  Festivals.  I  must  not  have  during  the  day 
more  than  one  course,  so  that  I  shall  enter  upon  the  holy  day  with 
a  good  appetite.  Should  I  transgress  this  resolve  intentionally 
I  shall  have  to  fast  a  day,  or  to  pay  two  Zehubs.  Again,  that  I 
shall  not  eat  the  fish  called  burbot,™  if  I  think  of  it.  Again,  even 
on  the  above-mentioned  days,  I  must  not  eat  more  than  three 
courses  at  a  meal,  nor  drink  more  than  three  cups  of  wine,  exclu- 
sive of  the  blessing-cup.  Again,  ...  I  must  not  swear  by  God, 
nor  mention  the  name  of  Heaven  without  a  purpose,  nor  curse 
any  man  in  the  name  of  God.  Should  I,  God  forbid,  transgress 
it,  I  must  not  drink  more  than  one  cup  of  wine  on  that  day  ex- 
clusive of  the  blessing-cup.  Should  I,  however,  transgress  this 
after  dinner,  I  must  abstain  from  wine  the  following  day.  Should 
I  transgress  it,  I  have  to  pay  half  a  Zehub.  Again,  that  I  shall 
get  up  every  night  to  praise  God,  to  supplicate  for  His  mercy,  and 
to  confess.  On  those  nights  when  confession  is  not  to  be  said 
(Sabbaths  and  Festivals),  I  shall  say  hymns  and  psalms.  This  I 
shall  do  when  I  am  in  my  house,  and  in  good  health,  free  from 
any  accident.  Should  I  transgress  it,  I  shall  drink  not  more  than 
one  cup  of  wine  the  following  day,  except  the  blessing-cup.  I 
again  take  upon  myself  to  give  in  charity  the  following  proportion 
of  my  expenditure  —  from  each  dress  which  I  shall  have  made  for 
myself  or  for  one  member  of  my  family,  costing  more  than  ten 
Zehubs,  I  must  pay  one  Pashut  38  for  each  ten  Zehubs.  Again,  if 
I  should  buy  an  animal,  or  a  slave,  or  a  female  slave,  or  ground, 
that  I  shall  also  pay  at  the  same  rate.  And  if  I  shall  buy  clothes 
for  sale,  called  fashas,  I  shall  pay  two  Pashuts  for  each  garment. 
As  often  as  I  have  occasion  to  say  the  benediction  of  thanksgiv- 


NA  CHMANIDES 

ings  for  having  escaped  danger  I  shall  pay  a  Zehub,  except  when 
I  am  travelling  [also  involving  danger  in  those  times!],  in  which 
case  I  shall  have  to  pay  a  Zehub  on  my  arrival,  and  two  Pashuts 
daily  during  the  journey.  Again,  from  every  kind  of  fish  bought 
for  me,  costing  more  than  a  Zehub ',  I  shall  pay  a  Pashut  for  each 
Zehub.  And  also,  if  I  shall  be  deemed  worthy  by  God  to  marry 
my  children,  and  to  be  present  at  their  wedding,  to  cause  them  to 
give  to  the  poor  from  the  dowry  brought  to  them  by  their  wives, 
whether  in  money  or  in  kind,  at  the  rate  of  one  per  cent.  If  God 
will  find  me  worthy  of  having  sons,  I  must  give  in  charity  accord- 
ing to  my  means  at  the  time. 

I  shall  also,  between  New  Year  and  the  Day  of  Atonement  in 
each  year,  calculate  my  profits  during  the  past  year  and  (after  de- 
ducting expenses)  give  a  tithe  thereof  to  the  poor.  Should  I  be 
unable  to  make  an  accurate  calculation,  then  I  shall  give  approx- 
imately. This  tithe  I  shall  put  aside,  together  with  the  other 
money  for  religious  (charitable)  purpose,  to  dispose  of  it  as  I 
shall  deem  best.  I  also  propose  to  have  the  liberty  of  employing 
the  money  in  any  profitable  speculation  with  a  view  to  augment- 
ing it.  But  in  respect  of  all  I  have  written  above  I  shall  not  hold 
myself  guilty  if  I  transgress,  if  such  transgression  be  the  result  of 
forgetful  ness ;  but  in  order  to  guard  against  it,  I  shall  read  this 
through  weekly. 

I  also  command  my  children  to  take  upon  themselves  as  many  of 
the  above  regulations  as  may  be  in  their  power  to  observe,  and  also 
to  bind  them  (i.e.  the  regulations),  from  generation  to  generation, 
upon  their  children.  And  he  who  carries  them  out,  and  even 
adds  to  them,  at  pain  of  discomfort  to  himself,  shall  merit  a  spe- 
cial blessing.  And  this  is  the  text  of  the  will  which  I,  the  above- 
mentioned  Solomon,  draw  up  for  my  children,  may  God  preserve 
them.  That  they  shall  pray  thrice  daily,  and  endeavour  always 
to  utter  their  prayers  with  devotion.  Again,  that  this  prayer 
shall  be  said  in  the  Beth  Hammidrash,  or  in  the  synagogue  to- 
gether with  the  congregation.  Again,  that  they  shall  apply  all  their 
powers  to  maintain  the  synagogues  and  the  houses  of  study,  which 
our  ancestors  have  built,  as  well  as  to  continue  the  endowments 
established  by  my  ancestors  and  myself.  They  must  always  en- 


I40  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

deavour  to  imitate  them,  so  that  goodness  shall  never  cease  from 
among  them.  Again,  that  they  shall  always  have  a  chair  on 
which  a  volume  of  the  Talmud,  or  some  other  Talmudical  work, 
shall  lie ;  so  that  they  shall  always  open  a  book  when  they  come 
home.  At  least,  they  shall  read  in  any  book  they  like  four  lines 
before  taking  their  meal.  Again,  that  they  shall  every  week  read 
the  Lesson  twice  in  the  Hebrew  text,  and  once  in  the  Aramaic 
version.  Again,  to  take  three  meals  on  the  Sabbath  .  .  . 

Again,  that  they  shall  be  always  modest,  merciful,  and  chari- 
table, for  these  are  the  qualities  by  which  the  children  of  Israel  are 
known.  Let  also  all  their  thoughts  and  meditations  be  always  di- 
rected to  the  service  of  the  Lord,  and  be  as  charitable  and  benevo- 
lent as  possible,  for  this  is  all  that  remains  to  man  of  his  labour. 
They  shall  also  endeavour  to  regulate  their  diet  according  to  the 
rules  laid  down  by  Rabbi  Moses  (b.  Maimon,  or  Maimonides),  so 
as  to  fulfil  the  words  of  Scripture :  "  The  righteous  eateth  to  the 
satisfying  of  his  soul."  And  let  them  always  be  careful  not  to  take 
the  name  of  God  in  vain,  to  be  honest  in  all  business  transactions, 
and  let  their  yea  be  always  yea.  They  shall  always  be  under  the 
obligation  to  train  their  children  to  the  Study  of  the  Torah,  but 
one  shall  devote  his  life  exclusively  to  the  study  thereof.  And 
it  shall  be  incumbent  upon  his  brothers  to  support  this  one,  and  to 
invest  his  moneys,  and  to  provide  for  him  that  he  and  his  family 
may  live  respectably,  so  that  he  be  not  distracted  by  worldly  cares 
from  his  studies.  Let  also  the  elder  love  the  younger  brothers  as 
their  own  children,  and  the  younger  respect  the  elder  as  a  parent. 
Thus  they  may  always  bear  in  mind  that  they  are  of  a  God-fear- 
ing family.  Let  them  love  and  honour  scholars,  thus  to  merit  the 
honour  of  having  scholars  for  their  sons  and  sons-in-law.  This 
will  they  shall  themselves  read  weekly,  and  shall  also  make  it  in- 
cumbent upon  their  children,  from  generation  to  generation,  to 
read  weekly,  in  order  to  fulfil  what  is  written  (Gen.  xviii.  19), 
"For  I  know  him  that  he  will  command  his  children,"  etc.,  and 
also  the  words  of  Isaiah  (lix.2i),  "  And  this  is  my  covenant,"  etc. 
But  as  often  as  they  shall  read  this  will,  they  shall  also  read  the 
two  letters  below  written,  which  Rabbi  Moses  ben  Nachman  sent 
to  his  sons,  with  a  view  of  being  serviceable  to  them  in  many  re- 


NACHMANIDES  141 

spects.  Should,  heaven  forbid,  they  be  by  any  sad  accident  pre- 
vented from  fulfilling  the  injunctions  above  laid  down,  they  must 
fine  themselves  by  not  drinking  wine  on  that  day,  or  by  eating  one 
course  less  at  the  dinner,  or  by  giving  some  fine  in  charity.  .  .  . 

And  this  is  the  letter  which  the  above-mentioned  Rabbi 
sent  from  the  Holy  Land  to  Castile,  when  his  son  was 
staying  before  the  king  (in  his  service) :  — 

"...  May  God  bless  you  and  preserve  you  from  sin  and  pun- 
ishment. Behold,  our  master,  King  David,  had  a  son,  wise  and 
of  an  understanding  heart,  like  unto  whom  there  was  never  one 
before  or  after.  Nevertheless  he  said  to  him  (i  Kings  ii.  2)  :  *  And 
keep  the  charge  of  the  Lord  thy  God,'  etc.  He  also  said  to  him : 
'And  thou,  my  son,  know  the  God  of  thy  father'  (i  Chron. 
xxviii.  9).  Now,  my  son,  if  thou  wilt  measure  thyself  with  Solo- 
mon, thou  wilt  find  thyself  a  worm  —  not  a  man,  merely  an  insect ; 
nevertheless,  if  thou  wilt  seek  God,  he  will  make  thee  great ;  and  if 
thou  wilt  forsake  him,  thou  wilt  be  turned  out  and  forsaken.  My 
son,  be  careful  that  thou  read  the  Shema TO  morning  and  evening, 
as  well  as  that  thou  say  the  daily  prayers.  Have  always  with  thee 
a  Pentateuch  written  correctly,  and  read  therein  the  Lesson  for 
each  Sabbath.  .  .  .  'Cast  thy  burden  upon  the  Lord,'  for  the 
thing  which  thou  believest  far  from  thee  is  often  very  near  unto  thee. 
Know,  again,  that  thou  art  not  master  over  thy  words,  nor  hast 
power  over  thy  hand  ;  but  everything  is  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord, 
who  formeth  thy  heart.  ...  Be  especially  careful  to  keep  aloof 
from  the  women  [of  the  court?].  Know  that  our  God  hates  im- 
morality, and  Balaam  could  in  no  other  way  injure  Israel  than  by 
inciting  them  to  unchastity.  [Here  come  many  quotations  from 
Malachi  and  Ezra.]  .  .  .  My  son,  remember  me  always,  and  let 
the  image  of  my  countenance  be  never  absent  from  before  thine 
eyes.  Love  not  that  which  I  hate.  .  .  .  Let  the  words  of  the 
Psalmist  be  always  upon  thy  lips,  *  I  am  a  stranger  in  the  earth : 
hide  not  thy  commandments  from  me '  (Ps.  cxix.  19)  ;  and  God, 
who  is  good  and  the  dispenser  of  good,  shall  increase  thy  peace 
and  prolong  thy  life  in  peace  and  happiness,  and  promote  thy  honour 
according  to  thy  wish  and  the  wish  of  thy  father  who  begat  thee, 
Moses  ben  Nachman." 


A   JEWISH    BOSWELL 

THERE  is  a  saying  in  the  Talmud  "  Nothing  exists  of 
which  there  is  not  some  indication  in  the  Torah."  These 
words  are  often  quoted,  and  some  modern  authors  have 
pressed  them  so  far  as  to  find  even  the  discoveries  of 
Columbus  and  the  inventions  of  Watt  and  Stephenson 
indicated  in  the  Law.  This  is  certainly  misapplied  in- 
genuity. But  it  is  hardly  an  exaggeration  to  maintain 
that  there  is  no  noble  manifestation  of  real  religion,  no 
expression  of  real  piety,  reverence,  and  devotion,  to  which 
Jewish  literature  would  not  offer  a  fair  parallel. 

Thus  it  will  hardly  be  astonishing  to  hear  that  Jewish 
literature  has  its  Boswell  to  show,  more  than  three  cen- 
turies before  the  Scottish  gentleman  came  to  London  to 
admire  his  Johnson,  and  more  than  four  centuries  before 
the  Sage  of  Chelsea  delivered  his  lectures  on  Hero  Wor- 
ship. And  this  Jewish  Boswell  was  guided  only  by  the 
motives  suggested  to  him  in  the  old  Rabbinic  literature. 
In  this  literature  the  reverence  for  the  great  man,  and 
the  absorption  of  one's  whole  self  in  him,  went  so  far 
that  one  Rabbi  declared  that  the  whole  world  was  only 
created  to  serve  such  a  man  as  company.1 

Again,  the  fact  that,  in  the  language  of  the  Rabbis, 
the  term  for  studying  the  Law  and  discussing  it  is  "to 

142 


A   JEWISH  BOS  WELL  ^ 

attend"  or  rather  "  to  serve  the  disciples  of  the  Wise" 
may  also  have  led  people  to  the  important  truth  that  the 
great  man  is  not  a  lecturing  machine,  but  a  sort  of  living 
Law  himself.  "When  the  man,"  said  one  Rabbi,  "has 
wholly  devoted  himself  to  the  Torah,  and  thoroughly 
identified  himself  with  it,  it  becomes  almost  his  own 
Torah."  Thus  people  have  not  only  to  listen  to  his 
words  but  to  observe  his  whole  life,  and  to  profit  from 
all  his  actions  and  movements. 

This  was  what  the  Jewish  Boswell  sought  to  do.  His 
name  was  Rabbi  Solomon,  of  St.  Goar,  a  small  town  on 
the  Rhine,  while  the  name  of  the  master  whom  he  served 
was  R.  Jacob,  the  Levite,  better  known  by  his  initials 
Maharil,  who  filled  the  office  of  Chief  Rabbi  in  Mayence 
and  Worms  successively.  The  main  activity  of  Maharil 
falls  in  the  first  three  decades  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
Those  were  troublous  times  for  a  Rabbi.  For  the  pre- 
ceding century  with  its  persecution  and  sufferings  —  one 
has  only  to  think  of  the  Black  Death  and  its  terrible  con- 
sequences for  the  Jews  —  led  to  the  destruction  of  the 
great  Schools,  the  decay  of  the  study  of  the  Law,  and 
to  the  dissolution  of  many  congregations.  Those  which 
remained  lost  all  touch  with  each  other,  so  that  almost 
every  larger  Jewish  community  had  its  own  Minhag  or 
ritual  custom.2 

It  was  Maharil  who  brought  some  order  into  this  chaos, 
and  in  the  course  of  time  his  influence  asserted  itself 
so  strongly  that  the  rules  observed  by  him  in  the  per- 
forming of  religious  ceremonies  were  accepted  by  the 
great  majority  of  the  Jewish  communities.  Thus  the  per- 
sonality of  Maharil  himself  became  a  standing  Minhag, 
suppressing  all  the  other  Minhagim  (customs). 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

But  there  must  have  been  something  very  strong  and  very 
great  about  the  personality  of  the  man  who  could  succeed 
in  such  an  arduous  task.  For  we  must  not  forget  that 
the  Minhag  or  custom  in  its  decay  degenerates  into  a  kind 
of  religious  fashion,  the  worst  disease  "to  which  religion 
is  liable,  and  the  most  difficult  to  cure.  It  is  therefore 
an  irreparable  loss  both  for  Jewish  literature  and  for  Jewish 
history,  that  the  greatest  part  of  Maharil's  posthumous 
writings  are  no  longer  extant,  so  that  our  knowledge  about 
him  is  very  small.  But  the  little  we  know  of  him  we  owe 
chiefly  to  the  communicativeness  of  his  servant,  the  Solo- 
mon of  St.  Goar  whom  I  mentioned  above. 

Solomon  not  only  gave  us  the  "  Customs  "  of  his  master, 
but  also  observed  him  closely  in  all  his  movements,  and 
conscientiously  wrote  down  all  that  he  saw  and  heard, 
under  the  name  of  Collectanea.  It  seems  that  the  bulk 
of  these  Collectanea  was  also  lost.  But  in  the  fragments 
that  we  still  possess  we  are  informed,  among  other  things, 
how  Maharil  addressed  his  wife,  how  he  treated  his  pupils, 
how  careful  he  was  in  the  use  of  his  books,  and  even  how 
clean  his  linen  was.  Is  this  not  out-Boswelling  Boswell  ? 

The  most  striking  point  of  agreement  between  the 
Boswell  of  the  fifteenth  and  him  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, is  that  they  both  use  the  same  passage  from  the 
Talmud  to  excuse  the  interest  in  trifles  which  their  labours 
of  love  betrayed.  Thus  Solomon  prefaces  his  Collectanea 
with  the  following  words :  "  It  is  written,  His  leaf  shall 
not  wither.  These  words  were  explained  by  our  Sages 
to  mean  that  even  the  idle  talk  of  the  disciples  of  the  wise 
deserves  a  study.  Upon  this  interpretation  I  have  relied. 
In  my  love  to  R.  Jacob  the  Levite,  I  collected  everything 
about  him.  I  did  not  refuse  even  small  things,  though  many 


A   JEWISH  BOS  WELL  ^jj 

derided  me.  Everything  I  wrote  down,  for  such  was  the 
desire  of  my  heart" 

Thus  far  Solomon.  Now,  if  we  turn  to  the  introduction 
to  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  we  read  the  following  sen- 
tence :  "  For  this  almost  superstitious  reverence,  I  have 
found  very  old  and  venerable  authority  quoted  by  our 
great  modern  prelate,  Seeker,  in  whose  tenth  sermon 
there  is  the  following  passage :  '  Rabbi  Kimchi,  a  noted 
Jewish  commentator  who  lived  about  five  hundred  years 
ago,  explains  that  passage  in  the  first  Psalm,  "His  leaf 
also  shall  not  wither"  from  Rabbins  yet  older  than  him- 
self, that  even  the  idle  talk,  so  he  expressed  it,  of  a  good 
man  ought  to  be  regarded. ' ' 

Croker's  note  to  this  passage  sounds  rather  strange. 
This  editor  says :  "  Kimchi  was  a  Spanish  Rabbi,  who 
died  in  1240.  One  wonders  that  Seeker's  good  sense 
should  have  condescended  to  quote  this  far-fetched  and 
futile  interpretation  of  the  simple  and  beautiful  metaphor, 
by  which  the  Psalmist  illustrates  the  prosperity  of  the 
righteous  man."  Now  Kimchi  died  at  least  five  years 
earlier  than  Croker  states,  but  dates,  we  know  from 
Macaulay's  essay  on  the  subject,  were  not  Croker's  strong 
point.  But  one  can  hardly  forgive  the  editor  of  Boswell 
this  lack  of  sympathy.  Had  he  known  what  strong 
affinity  there  was  between  his  most  Christian  author  and 
the  humble  Jew  Solomon,  he  would  have  less  resented 
this  condescension  of  Archbishop  Seeker. 

As  for  the  Jewish  Boswell  himself,  we  know  very  little 
about  him.  The  only  place  in  which  he  speaks  about  his 
own  person  is  that  in  which  he  derives  his  pedigree  from 
R.  Eleazar  ben  Samuel  Hallevi  (died  1357),  and  says  that 
he  was  generally  called  "  Der  gute  (the  good)  R.  Salman." 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

He  well  deserved  this  appellation.  In  his  Will  we  find 
the  following  injunction  to  his  children:  "Be  honest,  and 
conscientious  in  your  dealing  with  men,  with  Jews  as  well 
as  Gentiles,  be  kind  and  obliging  to  them ;  do  not  speak 
what  is  superfluous."  And  wisdom  is  surely  rare  enough 
to  render  inappropriate  a  charge  of  superfluousness 
against  the  work  of  those  who  in  bygone  times  spent 
their  energies  in  gathering  the  crumbs  that  fell  from  the 
tables  of  the  wise. 


VI 

THE   DOGMAS    OF   JUDAISM 

THE  object  of  this  essay  is  to  say  about  the  dogmas  of 
Judaism  a  word  which  I  think  ought  not  to  be  left  unsaid. 

In  speaking  of  dogmas  it  must  be  understood  that 
Judaism  does  not  ascribe  to  them  any  saving  power.  The 
belief  in  a  dogma  or  a  doctrine  without  abiding  by  its  real 
or  supposed  consequences  (e.g.  the  belief  in  creatio  ex 
nihilo  without  keeping  the  Sabbath)  is  of  no  value.  And 
the  question  about  certain  doctrines  is  not  whether  they 
possess  or  do  not  possess  the  desired  charm  against  cer- 
tain diseases  of  the  soul,  but  whether  they  ought  to  be 
considered  as  characteristics  of  Judaism  or  not. 

It  must  again  be  premised  that  the  subject,  which  occu- 
pied the  thoughts  of  the  greatest  and  noblest  Jewish 
minds  for  so  many  centuries,  has  been  neglected  for  a 
comparatively  long  time.  And  this  for  various  reasons. 
First,  there  is  Mendelssohn's  assertion,  or  supposed  asser- 
tion, in  his  Jerusalem,  that  Judaism  has  no  dogmas  —  an 
assertion  which  has  been  accepted  by  the  majority  of 
modern  Jewish  theologians  as  the  only  dogma  Judaism 
possesses.  You  can  hear  it  pronounced  in  scores  of 
Jewish  pulpits  ;  you  can  read  it  written  in  scores  of  Jewish 
books.  To  admit  the  possibility  that  Mendelssohn  was  in 
error  was  hardly  permissible,  especially  for  those  with 


I48  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

whom  he  enjoys  a  certain  infallibility.  Nay,  even  the  fact 
that  he  himself  was  not  consistent  in  his  theory,  and  on 
another  occasion  declared  that  Judaism  has  dogmas,  only 
that  they  are  purer  and  more  in  harmony  with  reason  than 
those  of  other  religions ;  or  even  the  more  important  fact 
that  he  published  a  school-book  for  children,  in  which  the 
so-called  Thirteen  Articles  were  embodied,  only  that 
instead  of  the  formula  "  I  believe,"  he  substituted  "  I  am 
convinced,"  —  even  such  patent  facts  did  not  produce 
much  effect  upon  many  of  our  modern  theologians.1 
They  were  either  overlooked  or  explained  away  so  as  to 
make  them  harmonise  with  the  great  dogma  of  dogma- 
lessness.  For  it  is  one  of  the  attributes  of  infallibility 
that  the  words  of  its  happy  possessor  must  always  be 
reconcilable  even  when  they  appear  to  the  eye  of  the 
unbeliever  as  gross  contradictions. 

Another  cause  of  the  neglect  into  which  the  subject  has 
fallen  is  that  our  century  is  an  historical  one.  It  is  not 
only  books  that  have  their  fate,  but  also  whole  sciences 
and  literatures.  In  past  times  it  was  religious  speculation 
that  formed  the  favourite  study  of  scholars,  in  our  time  it 
is  history  with  its  critical  foundation  on  a  sound  philology. 
Now  as  these  two  most  important  branches  of  Jewish 
science  were  so  long  neglected  —  were  perhaps  never  cul- 
tivated in  the  true  meaning  of  the  word,  and  as  Jewish  lit- 
erature is  so  vast  and  Jewish  history  so  far-reaching  and 
eventful,  we  cannot  winder  that  these  studies  have  ab- 
sorbed the  time  and  the  labour  of  the  greatest  and  best 
Jewish  writers  in  this  century. 

There  is,  besides,  a  certain  tendency  in  historical  studies 
that  is  hostile  to  mere  theological  speculation.  The  his- 
torian deals  with  realities,  the  theologian  with  abstrac- 


THE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM 

tions.  The  latter  likes  to  shape  the  universe  after  his 
system,  and  tells  us  how  things  ought  to  be,  the  former 
teaches  us  how  they  are  or  have  been,  and  the  explanation 
he  gives  for  their  being  so  and  not  otherwise  includes  in 
most  cases  also  a  kind  of  justification  for  their  existence. 
There  is  also  the  odium  theologicum,  which  has  been  the 
cause  of  so  much  misfortune  that  it  is  hated  by  the  his- 
torian, whilst  the  superficial,  rationalistic  way  in  which 
the  theologian  manages  to  explain  everything  which 
does  not  suit  his  system  is  most  repulsive  to  the  critical 
spirit. 

But  it  cannot  be  denied  that  this  neglect  has  caused 
much  confusion.  Especially  is  this  noticeable  in  England, 
which  is  essentially  a  theological  country,  and  where 
people  are  but  little  prone  to  give  up  speculation  about 
things  which  concern  their  most  sacred  interest  and 
greatest  happiness.  Thus  whilst  we  are  exceedingly  poor 
in  all  other  branches  of  Jewish  learning,  we  are  compara- 
tively rich  in  productions  of  a  theological  character.  We 
have  a  superfluity  of  essays  on  such  delicate  subjects  as 
eternal  punishment,  immortality  of  the  soul,  the  day  of 
judgment,  etc.,  and  many  treatises  on  the  definition  of 
Judaism.  But  knowing  little  or  nothing  of  the  progress 
recently  made  in  Jewish  theology,  of  the  many  protests 
against  all  kinds  of  infallibility,  whether  canonised  in  this 
century  or  in  olden  times,  we  in  England  still  maintain 
that  Judaism  has  no  dogmas  as  if  nothing  to  the  contrary 
had  ever  been  said.  We  seek  the  foundation  of  Judaism 
in  political  economy,  in  hygiene,  in  everything  except  relig- 
ion. Following  the  fashion  of  the  day  to  esteem  religion 
in  proportion  to  its  ability  to  adapt  itself  to  every  possible 
and  impossible  metaphysical  and  social  system,  we  are 


150  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

anxious  to  squeeze  out  of  Judaism  the  last  drop  of  faith 
and  hope,  and  strive  to  make  it  so  flexible  that  we  can 
turn  it  in  every  direction  which  it  is  our  pleasure  to  fol- 
low. But  alas !  the  flexibility  has  progressed  so  far  as 
to  classify  Judaism  among  the  invertebrate  species,  the 
lowest  order  of  living  things.  It  strongly  resembles  a  cer- 
tain Christian  school  which  addresses  itself  to  the  world  in 
general  and  claims  to  satisfy  everybody  alike.  It  claims 
to  be  socialism  for  the  adherents  of  Karl  Marx  and 
Lassalle,  worship  of  man  for  the  followers  of  Comte  and 
St.  Simon ;  it  carefully  avoids  the  word  "  God  "  for  the 
comfort  of  agnostics  and  sceptics,  whilst  on  the  other  hand 
it  pretends  to  hold  sway  over  paradise,  hell,  and  immortal- 
ity for  the  edification  of  believers.  In  such  illusions  many 
of  our  theologians  delight.  For  illusions  they  are ;  you 
cannot  be  everything  if  you  want  to  be  anything.  More- 
over, illusions  in  themselves  are  bad  enough,  but  we  are 
menaced  with  what  is  still  worse.  Judaism,  divested  of 
every  higher  religious  motive,  is  in  danger  of  falling  into 
gross  materialism.  For  what  else  is  the  meaning  of  such 
declarations  as  "  Believe  what  you  like,  but  conform  to 
this  or  that  mode  of  life  " ;  what  else  does  it  mean  but 
"  We  cannot  expect  you  to  believe  that  the  things  you  are 
bidden  to  do  are  commanded  by  a  higher  authority ;  there 
is  not  such  a  thing  as  belief,  but  you  ought  to  do  them 
for  conventionalism  or  for  your  own  convenience." 

But  both  these  motives  —  the  good  opinion  of  our 
neighbours,  as  well  as  our  bodily  health  —  have  nothing  to 
do  with  our  nobler  and  higher  sentiments,  and  degrade 
Judaism  to  a  matter  of  expediency  or  diplomacy.  Indeed, 
things  have  advanced  so  far  that  well-meaning  but  ill- 
advised  writers  even  think  to  render  a  service  to  Judaism 


THE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM  l$l 

by  declaring  it  to  be  a  kind  of  enlightened  Hedonism,  or 
rather  a  moderate  Epicureanism. 

I  have  no  intention  of  here  answering  the  question, 
What  is  Judaism  ?  This  question  is  not  less  perplexing 
than  the  problem,  What  is  God's  world  ?  Judaism  is  also 
a  great  Infinite,  composed  of  as  many  endless  Units,  the 
Jews.  And  these  Unit-Jews  have  been,  and  are  still, 
scattered  through  all  the  world,  and  have  passed  under  an 
immensity  of  influences,  good  and  bad.  If  so,  how  can 
we  give  an  exact  definition  of  the  Infinite,  called  Judaism  ? 

But  if  there  is  anything  sure,  it  is  that  the  highest  mo- 
tives which  worked  through  the  history  of  Judaism  are  the 
strong  belief  in  God  and  the  unshaken  confidence  that  at 
last  this  God,  the  God  of  Israel,  will  be  the  God  of  the 
whole  world ;  or,  in  other  words,  Faith  and  Hope  are  the 
two  most  prominent  characteristics  of  Judaism. 

In  the  following  pages  I  shall  try  to  give  a  short 
account  of  the  manner  in  which  these  two  principles  of 
Judaism  found  expression,  from  the  earliest  times  down  to 
the  age  of  Mendelssohn ;  that  is,  to  present  an  outline  of 
the  history  of  Jewish  Dogmas.  First,  a  few  observations 
on  the  position  of  the  Bible  and  the  Talmud  in  relation  to 
our  theme.  Insufficient  and  poor  as  they  may  be  in  pro- 
portion to  the  importance  of  these  two  fundamental  docu- 
ments of  Judaism,  these  remarks  may  nevertheless  suggest 
a  connecting  link  between  the  teachings  of  Jewish  antiq- 
uity and  those  of  Maimonides  and  his  successors. 

I  begin  with  the  Scriptures. 

The  Bible  itself  hardly  contains  a  command  bidding  us 
to  believe.  We  are  hardly  ordered,  e.g.,  to  believe  in  the 
existence  of  God.  I  say  hardly,  but  I  do  not  altogether 
deny  the  existence  of  such  a  command.  It  is  true  that  we 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

do  not  find  in  the  Scripture  such  words  as :  "  You  are 
commanded  to  believe  in  the  existence  of  God."  Nor  is 
any  punishment  assigned  as  awaiting  him  who  denies  it. 
Notwithstanding  these  facts,  many  Jewish  authorities  — 
among  them  such  important  men  as  Maimonides,  R. 
Judah  Hallevi,  Nachmanides  —  perceive,  in  the  first  words 
of  the  Ten  Commandments,  "  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God," 
the  command  to  believe  in  His  existence.2 

Be  this  as  it  may,  there  cannot  be  the  shadow  of  a 
doubt  that  the  Bible,  in  which  every  command  is  dictated 
by  God,  and  in  which  all  its  heroes  are  the  servants,  the 
friends,  or  the  ambassadors  of  God,  presumes  such  a 
belief  in  every  one  to  whom  those  laws  are  dictated,  and 
these  heroes  address  themselves.  Nay,  I  think  that  the 
word  "belief"  is  not  even  adequate.  In  a  world  with  so 
many  visible  facts  and  invisible  causes,  as  life  and  death, 
growth  and  decay,  light  and  darkness ;  in  a  world  where 
the  sun  rises  and  sets ;  where  the  stars  appear  regularly ; 
where  heavy  rains  pour  down  from  the  sky,  often  accom- 
panied by  such  grand  phenomena  as  thunder  and  light- 
ning ;  in  a  world  full  of  such  marvels,  but  into  which  no 
notion  has  entered  of  all  our  modern  true  or  false  explana- 
tions—  who  but  God  is  behind  all  these  things?  "  Have 
the  gates,"  asks  God,  "have  the  gates  of  death  been  open 
to  thee  ?  or  hast  thou  seen  the  doors  of  the  shadow  of 
death  ?  .  .  .  Where  is  the  way  where  light  dwelleth  ? 
and  as  for  darkness,  where  is  the  place  thereof?  .  .  . 
Hath  the  rain  a  father  ?  or  who  hath  begotten  the  drops 
of  dew  ?  .  ." .  Canst  thou  bind  the  sweet  influences  of 
Pleiades,  or  loose  the  bands  of  Orion  ?  .  .  .  Canst  thou 
send  lightnings,  that  they  may  go,  and  say  unto  thee, 
Here  we  are  ? "  (Job  xxxviii.).  Of  all  these  wonders,  God 


THE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM  ^3 

was  not  merely  the  prima  causa  ;  they  were  the  result  of 
His  direct  action,  without  any  intermediary  causes.  And 
it  is  as  absurd  to  say  that  the  ancient  world  believed  in 
God,  as  for  a  future  historian  to  assert  of  the  nineteenth 
century  that  it  believed  in  the  effects  of  electricity.  We 
see  them,  and  so  antiquity  saw  God.  If  there  was  any 
danger,  it  lay  not  in  the  denial  of  the  existence  of  a  God, 
but  in  having  a  wrong  belief.  Belief  in  as  many  gods 
as  there  are  manifestations  in  nature,  the  investing  of 
them  with  false  attributes,  the  misunderstanding  of  God's 
relation  to  men,  lead  to  immorality.  Thus  the  greater 
part  of  the  laws  and  teachings  of  the  Bible  are  either 
directed  against  polytheism,  with  all  its  low  ideas  of  God, 
or  rather  of  gods ;  or  they  are  directed  towards  regulating 
God's  relation  to  men.  Man  is  a  servant  of  God,  or  His 
prophet,  or  even  His  friend.  But  this  relationship  man 
obtains  only  by  his  conduct.  Nay,  all  man's  actions  are 
carefully  regulated  by  God,  and  connected  with  His  holi- 
ness. The  I Qth  chapter  of  Leviticus,  which  is  considered 
by  the  Rabbis  as  the  portion  of  the  Law  in  which  the 
most  important  articles  of  the  Torah  are  embodied,  is 
headed,  "  Ye  shall  be  holy,  for  I  the  Lord  your  own  God 
am  holy."  And  each  law  therein  occurring,  even  those 
which  concern  our  relations  to  each  other,  is  not  founded 
on  utilitarian  reasons,  but  is  ordained  because  the  opposite 
of  it  is  an  offence  to  the  holiness  of  God,  and  profanes 
His  creatures,  whom  He  desired  to  be  as  holy  as  He  is.3 
Thus  the  whole  structure  of  the  Bible  is  built  upon  the 
visible  fact  of  the  existence  of  a  God,  and  upon  the  belief 
in  the  relation  of  God  to  men,  especially  to  Israel.  In 
spite  of  all  that  has  been  said  to  the  contrary,  the  Bible 
does  lay  stress  upon  belief,  where  belief  is  required.  The 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

unbelievers  are  rebuked  again  and  again.  "  For  all  this 
they  sinned  still,  and  believed  not  for  His  wondrous 
work,"  complains  Asaph  (Ps.  Ixxviii.  32).  And  belief  is 
praised  in  such  exalted  words  as,  "Thus  saith  the  Lord, 
I  remember  thee,  the  kindness  of  thy  youth,  the  love  of 
thine  espousals,  when  thou  wentest  after  me  in  the  wilder- 
ness, in  a  land  that  was  not  sown"  (Jer.  ii.  2).  The  Bible, 
especially  the  books  of  the  prophets,  consists,  in  great 
part,  of  promises  for  the  future,  which  the  Rabbis  justly 
termed  the  "Consolations."4  For  our  purpose,  it  is  of 
no  great  consequence  to  examine  what  future  the  prophets 
had  in  view,  whether  an  immediate  future  or  one  more 
remote,  at  the  end  of  days.  At  any  rate,  they  inculcated 
hope  and  confidence  that  God  would  bring  to  pass  a 
better  time.  I  think  that  even  the  most  advanced  Bible 
critic — provided  he  is  not  guided  by  some  modern  Aryan 
reasons  —  must  perceive  in  such  passages  as,  "The  Lord 
shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever,"  "The  Lord  shall  rejoice 
in  his  works,"  and  many  others,  a  hope  for  more  than 
the  establishment  of  the  "national  Deity  among  his 
votaries  in  Palestine." 

We  have  now  to  pass  over  an  interval  of  many  centu- 
ries, the  length  of  which  depends  upon  the  views  held 
as  to  the  date  of  the  close  of  the  canon,  and  examine 
what  the  Rabbis,  the  representatives  of  the  prophets, 
thought  on  this  subject.  Not  that  the  views  of  the 
author  of  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  of  Philo  and  Aristobu- 
lus,  and  many  others  of  the  Judaeo-Alexandrian  school 
would  be  uninteresting  for  us.  But  somehow  their  influ- 
ence on  Judaism  was  only  a  passing  one,  and  their  doc- 
trines never  became  authoritative  in  the  Synagogue.  We 
must  here  confine  ourselves  to  those  who,  even  by  the 


THE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM  !^ 

testimony  of  their  bitterest  enemies,  occupied  the  seat  of 
Moses. 

The  successors  of  the  prophets  had  to  deal  with  new 
circumstances,  and  accordingly  their  teachings  were 
adapted  to  the  wants  of  their  times.  As  the  result  of 
manifold  foreign  influences,  the  visible  fact  of  the  exist- 
ence of  God  as  manifested  in  the  Bible  had  been  some- 
what obscured.  Prophecy  ceased,  and  the  Holy  Spirit 
which  inspired  a  few  chosen  ones  took  its  place.  After- 
wards this  influence  was  reduced  to  the  hearing  of  a 
Voice  from  Heaven,  which  was  audible  to  still  fewer. 
On  the  other  hand  the  Rabbis  had  this  advantage  that 
they  were  not  called  upon  to  fight  against  idolatry  as 
their  predecessors  the  prophets  had  been.  The  evil  in- 
clination to  worship  idols  was,  as  the  Talmud  expresses 
it  allegorically,  killed  by  the  Men  of  the  Great  Syna- 
gogue, or,  as  we  should  put  it,  it  was  suppressed  by  the 
sufferings  of  the  captivity  in  Babylon.  This  change  of 
circumstances  is  marked  by  the  following  fact:  —  Whilst 
the  prophets  mostly  considered  idolatry  as  the  cause  of  all 
sin,  the  Rabbis  show  a  strong  tendency  to  ascribe  sin  to 
a  defect  in,  or  a  want  of,  belief  on  the  part  of  the  sinner. 
They  teach  that  Adam  would  not  have  sinned  unless  he 
had  first  denied  the  "  Root  of  all "  (or  the  main  principle), 
namely,  the  belief  in  the  Omnipresence  of  God.  Of  Cain 
they  say  that  before  murdering  his  brother  he  declared : 
"  There  is  no  judgment,  there  is  no  judge,  there  is  no 
world  to  come,  and  there  is  no  reward  for  the  just,  and 
no  punishment  for  the  wicked."  5 

In  another  place  we  read  that  the  commission  of  a  sin 
in  secret  is  an  impertinent  attempt  by  the  doer  to  oust 
God  from  the  world.  But  if  unbelief  is  considered  as 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

the  root  of  all  evil,  we  may  expect  that  the  reverse  of 
it,  a  perfect  faith,  would  be  praised  in  the  most  exalted 
terms.  So  we  read :  Faith  is  so  great  that  the  man  who 
possesses  it  may  hope  to  become  a  worthy  vessel  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  or,  as  we  should  express  it,  that  he  may  hope 
to  obtain  by  this  power  the  highest  degree  of  communion 
with  his  Maker.  The  Patriarch  Abraham,  notwithstanding 
all  his  other  virtues,  only  became  "  the  possessor  of  both 
worlds  "  by  the  merit  of  his  strong  faith.  Nay,  even  the 
fulfilment  of  a  single  law  when  accompanied  by  true  faith 
is,  according  to  the  Rabbis,  sufficient  to  bring  man  nigh 
to  God.  And  the  future  redemption  is  also  conditional 
on  the  degree  of  faith  shown  by  Israel.6 

It  has  often  been  asked  what  the  Rabbis  would  have 
thought  of  a  man  who  fulfils  every  commandment  of  the 
Torah,  but  does  not  believe  that  this  Torah  was  given  by 
God,  or  that  there  exists  a  God  at  all.  It  is  indeed  very 
difficult  to  answer  this  question  with  any  degree  of  cer- 
tainty. In  the  time  of  the  Rabbis  people  were  still  too 
simple  for  such  a  diplomatic  religion,  and  conformity 
in  the  modern  sense  was  quite  an  unknown  thing.  But 
from  the  foregoing  remarks  it  would  seem  that  the 
Rabbis  could  not  conceive  such  a  monstrosity  as  atheistic 
orthodoxy.  For,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Rabbis  thought 
that  unbelief  must  needs  end  in  sin,  for  faith  is  the  ori- 
gin of  all  good.  Accordingly,  in  the  case  just  supposed 
they  would  have  either  suspected  the  man's  orthodoxy, 
or  would  have  denied  that  his  views  were  really  what  he 
professed  them  to  be. 

Still  more  important  than  the  above  cited  Agadic  pas- 
sages is  one  which  we  are  about  to  quote  from  the  trac- 
tate Sanhedrin.  This  tractate  deals  with  the  constitution, 


7'ffE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM 

of  the  supreme  law-court,  the  examination  of  the  wit- 
nesses, the  functions  of  the  judges,  and  the  different 
punishment  to  be  inflicted  on  the  transgressors  of  the 
law.  After  having  enumerated  various  kinds  of  capital 
punishment,  the  Mishnah  adds  the  following  words : 
"These  are  (the  men)  who  are  excluded  from  the  life 
to  come :  He  who  says  there  is  no  resurrection  from 
death;  he  who  says  there  is  no  Torah  given  from 
heaven,  and  the  Epikurus." 7  This  passage  was  con- 
sidered by  the  Rabbis  of  the  Middle  Ages,  as  well  as 
by  modern  scholars,  the  locus  classicus  for  the  dogma 
question.  There  are  many  passages  in  the  Rabbinic 
literature  which  exclude  man  from  the  world  to  come 
for  this  or  that  sin.  But  these  are  more  or  less  of  an 
Agadic  (legendary)  character,  and  thus  lend  themselves 
to  exaggeration  and  hyperbolic  language.  They  cannot, 
therefore,  be  considered  as  serious  legal  dicta,  or  as  the 
general  opinion  of  the  Rabbis. 

The  Mishnah  in  Sanhedrin,  however,  has,  if  only  by 
its  position  in  a  legal  tractate,  a  certain  Halachic  (obliga- 
tory) character.  And  the  fact  that  so  early  an  authority 
as  R.  Akiba  made  additions  to  it  guarantees  its  high 
antiquity.  The  first  two  sentences  of  this  Mishnah  are 
clear  enough.  In  modern  language,  and  positively  speak- 
ing, they  would  represent  articles  of  belief  in  Resurrection 
and  Revelation.  Great  difficulty  is  found  in  defining  what 
was  meant  by  the  word  Epikurus.  The  authorities  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  to  whom  I  shall  again  have  to  refer,  explain 
the  Epikurus  to  be  a  man  who  denies  the  belief  in  reward 
and  punishment ;  others  identify  him  with  one  who  denies 
the  belief  in  Providence ;  while  others  again  consider  the 
Epikurus  to  be  one  who  denies  Tradition.  But  the  paral- 


!^8  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

lei  passages  in  which  it  occurs  incline  one  rather  to  think 
that  this  word  cannot  be  denned  by  one  kind  of  heresy. 
It  implies  rather  a  frivolous  treatment  of  the  words  of 
Scripture  or  of  Tradition.  In  the  case  of  the  latter  (Tra- 
dition) it  is  certainly  not  honest  difference  of  opinion  that 
is  condemned;  for  the  Rabbis  themselves  differed  very 
often  from  each  other,  and  even  Mediaeval  authorities 
did  not  feel  any  compunction  about  explaining  Scripture 
in  variance  with  the  Rabbinic  interpretation,  and  some- 
times they  even  went  so  far  as  to  declare  that  the  view 
of  this  or  that  great  authority  was  only  to  be  considered 
as  an  isolated  opinion  not  deserving  particular  attention. 
What  they  did  blame  was,  as  already  said,  scoffing  and 
impiety.  We  may  thus  safely  assert  that  reverence  for 
the  teachers  of  Israel  formed  the  third  essential  principle 
of  Judaism.8 

I  have  still  to  remark  that  there  occur  in  the  Talmud 
such  passages  as  "  the  Jew,  even  if  he  has  sinned,  is  still  a 
Jew,"  or  "He  who  denies  idolatry  is  called  a  Jew."  These 
and  similar  passages  have  been  used  to  prove  that  Judaism 
was  not  a  positive  religion,  but  only  involved  the  negation 
of  idolatry.  But  it  has  been  overlooked  that  the  statements 
quoted  have  more  a  legal  than  a  theological  character. 
The  Jew  belonged  to  his  nationality  even  after  having 
committed  the  greatest  sin,  just  as  the  Englishman  does 
not  cease  to  be  an  Englishman — in  regard  to  treason  and 
the  like  —  by  having  committed  a  heinous  crime.  But  he 
has  certainly  acted  in  a  very  un-English  way,  and  having 
outraged  the  feelings  of  the  whole  nation  will  have  to  suf- 
fer for  his  misconduct.  The  Rabbis  in  a  similar  manner 
did  not  maintain  that  he  who  gave  up  the  belief  in  Revela- 
tion and  Resurrection,  and  treated  irreverently  the  teach- 


THE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM 

ers  of  Israel,  severed  his  connection  with  the  Jewish  nation, 
but  that,  for  his  crime,  he  was  going  to  suffer  the  heaviest 
punishment.  He  was  to  be  excluded  from  the  world  to 
come. 

Still,  important  as  is  the  passage  quoted  from  Sanhe- 
drin,  it  would  be  erroneous  to  think  that  it  exhausted  the 
creed  of  the  Rabbis.  The  liturgy  and  innumerable  pas- 
sages in  the  Midrashim  show  that  they  ardently  clung  to 
the  belief  in  the  advent  of  the  Messiah.  All  their  hope 
was  turned  to  the  future  redemption  and  the  final  estab- 
lishment of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  on  earth.  Judaism, 
stripped  of  this  belief,  would  have  been  for  them  devoid  of 
meaning.  The  belief  in  reward  and  punishment  is  also 
repeated  again  and  again  in  the  old  Rabbinic  literature. 
A  more  emphatic  declaration  of  the  belief  in  Providence 
than  is  conveyed  by  the  following  passages  is  hardly  con- 
ceivable. "  Everything  is  foreseen,  and  free  will  is  given. 
And  the  world  is  judged  by  grace."  Or,  "the  born  are  to 
die,  and  the  dead  to  revive,  and  the  living  to  be  judged. 
For  to  know  and  to  notify,  and  that  it  may  be  known 
that  He  (God)  is  the  Framer  and  He  the  Creator,  and 
He  the  Discerner,  and  He  the  Judge,  and  He  the  Wit- 
ness," etc.9 

But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  it  was  not  the  habit  of 
the  Rabbis  to  lay  down,  either  for  conduct  or  for  doctrine, 
rules  which  were  commonly  known.  When  they  urged 
the  three  points  stated  above  there  must  have  been  some 
historical  reason  for  it.  Probably  these  principles  were 
controverted  by  some  heretics.  Indeed,  the  whole  tone 
of  the  passage  cited  from  Sanhedrin  is  a  protest  against 
certain  unbelievers  who  are  threatened  with  punishment. 
Other  beliefs,  not  less  essential,  but  less  disputed,  remain 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

unmentioned,  because  there  was  no  necessity  to  assert 
them. 

It  was  not  till  a  much  later  time,  when  the  Jews  came 
into  closer  contact  with  new  philosophical  schools,  and 
also  new  creeds  which  were  more  liable  than  heathenism 
was  to  be  confused  with  Judaism,  that  this  necessity  was 
felt.  And  thus  we  are  led  at  once  to  the  period  when  the 
Jews  became  acquainted  with  the  teachings  of  the  Moham- 
medan schools.  The  Caraites  came  very  early  into  con- 
tact with  non-Jewish  systems.  And  so  we  find  that  they 
were  also  the  first  to  formulate  Jewish  dogmas  in  a  fixed 
number,  and  in  a  systematic  order.  It  is  also  possible  that 
their  separation  from  the  Tradition,  and  their  early  division 
into  little  sects  among  themselves,  compelled  them  to  take 
this  step,  in  order  to  avoid  further  sectarianism. 

The  number  of  their  dogmas  amounts  to  ten.  Accord- 
ing to  Judah  Hadasi  (1150),  who  would  appear  to  have 
derived  them  from  his  predecessors,  their  dogmas  include 
the  following  articles: — i.  Creatio  ex  nihilo;  2.  The  ex- 
istence of  a  Creator,  God  ;  3.  This  God  is  an  absolute  unity 
as  well  as  incorporeal;  4.  Moses  and  the  other  prophets 
were  sent  by  God ;  5.  God  has  given  to  us  the^  Torah, 
which  is  true  and  complete  in  every  respect,  not  want- 
ing the  addition  of  the  so-called  Oral  Law ;  6.  The  Torah 
must  be  studied  by  every  Jew  in  the  original  (Hebrew) 
language ;  7.  The  Holy  Temple  was  a  place  elected  by 
God  for  His  manifestation ;  8.  Resurrection  of  the  dead ; 
9.  Punishment  and  reward  after  death ;  10.  The  Coming 
of  the  Messiah,  the  son  of  David. 

How  far  the  predecessors  of  Hadasi  were  influenced  by 
a  certain  Joseph  Albashir  (about  950),  of  whom  there  exists 
a  manuscript  work,  "  Rudiments  of  Faith,"  I  am  unable  to 


THE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM  IgI 

say.  The  little  we  know  of  him  reveals  more  of  his  inti- 
macy with  Arabic  thoughts  than  of  his  importance  for  his 
sect  in  particular  and  for  Judaism  in  general.  After  Ha- 
dasi  I  shall  mention  here  Elijah  Bashazi,  a  Caraite  writer 
of  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  This  author,  who  was 
much  influenced  by  Maimonides,  omits  the  second  and  the 
seventh  articles.  In  order  to  make  up  the  ten  he  numbers 
the  belief  in  the  eternity  of  God  as  an  article,  and  divides 
the  fourth  article  into  two.  In  the  fifth  article  Bashazi 
does  not  emphasise  so  strongly  the  completeness  of  the 
Torah  as  Hadasi,  and  omits  the  portion  which  is  directed 
against  Tradition.  It  is  interesting  to  see  the  distinction 
which  Bashazi  draws  between  the  Pentateuch  and  the 
Prophets.  While  he  thinks  that  the  five  books  of  Moses 
can  never  be  altered,  he  regards  the  words  of  the  Prophets 
as  only  relating  to  their  contemporaries,  and  thus  subject 
to  changes.  As  I  do  not  want  to  anticipate  Maimonides' 
system,  I  must  refrain  from  giving  here  the  articles  laid 
down  by  Solomon  Troki  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  For  the  articles  of  Maimonides  are  copied  by 
this  writer  with  a  few  slight  alterations  so  as  to  dress  them 
in  a  Caraite  garb. 

I  must  dismiss  the  Caraites  with  these  few  remarks,  my 
object  being  chiefly  to  discuss  the  dogmas  of  the  Syna- 
gogue from  which  they  had  separated  themselves.  Besides, 
as  in  everything  Caraitic,  there  is  no  further  development 
of  the  question.  As  Bashazi  laid  them  down,  they  are 
still  taught  by  the  Caraites  of  to-day.  I  return  to  the  Rab- 
banites.10 

As  is  well  known,  Maimonides  (1130-1 205),  was  the  first 
Rabbanite  who  formulated  the  dogmas  of  the  Synagogue. 
But  there  are  indications  of  earlier  attempts.  R.  Saadiah 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Gaon's  (892-942)  work,  Creeds  and  Opinions,  shows  such 
traces.  He  says  in  his  preface,  "  My  heart  sickens  to 
see  that  the  belief  of  my  co-religionists  is  impure  and 
that  their  theological  views  are  confused."  The  subjects 
he  treats  in  this  book,  such  as  creation,  unity  of  God, 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  the  future  redemption  of  Israel, 
reward  and  punishment,  and  other  kindred  theological 
subjects  might  thus,  perhaps,  be  considered  as  the  essen- 
tials of  the  creed  that  the  Gaon  desired  to  present  in  a 
pure  and  rational  form.  R.  Hannaneel,  of  Kairowan,11  in 
the  first  half  of  the  eleventh  century,  says  in  one  of  his 
commentaries  that  to  deserve  eternal  life  one  must  believe 
mfour  things :  in  God,  in  the  prophets,  in  a  future  world 
where  the  just  will  be  rewarded,  and  in  the  advent  of  the 
Redeemer.  From  R.  Judah  Hallevi's  Cusari,  written  in 
the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  we  might  argue  that 
the  belief  in  the  election  of  Israel  by  God  was  the  cardinal 
dogma  of  the  author.12  Abraham  Ibn  Daud,  a  contem- 
porary of  Maimonides,  in  his  book  The  High  Belief^ 
speaks  of  rudiments,  among  which,  besides  such  meta- 
physical principles  as  unity,  rational  conception  of  God's 
attributes,  etc.,  the  belief  in  the  immutability  of  the  Law, 
etc.,  is  included.  Still,  all  these  works  are  intended  to  fur- 
nish evidence  from  philosophy  or  history  for  the  truth  of 
religion  rather  than  to  give  a  definition  of  this  truth.  The 
latter  task  was  undertaken  by  Maimonides. 

I  refer  to  the  thirteen  articles  embodied  in  his  first  work, 
The  Commentary  to  the  Mishnah.  They  are  appended 
to  the  Mishnah  in  Sanhedrin,  with  which  I  dealt  above. 
But  though  they  do  not  form  an  independent  treatise, 
Maimonides'  remarks  must  not  be  considered  as  merely 
incidental. 


THE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM  163 

That  Maimonides  was  quite  conscious  of  the  importance 
of  this  exposition  can  be  gathered  from  the  concluding 
words  addressed  to  the  reader :  "  Know  these  (words) 
and  repeat  them  many  times,  and  think  them  over  in  the 
proper  way.  God  knows  that  thou  wouldst  be  deceiving 
thyself  if  thou  thinkest  thou  hast  understood  them  by  hav- 
ing read  them  once  or  even  ten  times.  Be  not,  therefore, 
hasty  in  perusing  them.  I  have  not  composed  them  with- 
out deep  study  and  earnest  reflection." 

The  result  of  this  deep  study  was  that  the  following 
Thirteen  Articles  constitute  the  creed  of  Judaism.  They 
are :  — 

i.  The  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  Creator;  2.  The 
belief  in  His  Unity ;  3.  The  belief  in  His  Incorporeality ; 
4.  The  belief  in  His  Eternity;  5.  The  belief  that  all  wor- 
ship and  adoration  are  due  to  Him  alone ;  6.  The  belief  in 
Prophecy ;  7.  The  belief  that  Moses  was  the  greatest  of 
all  Prophets,  both  before  and  after  him  ;  8.  The  belief  that 
the  Torah  was  revealed  to  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai ;  9.  The 
belief  in  the  Immutability  of  this  revealed  Torah  ;  10.  The 
belief  that  God  knows  the  actions  of  men;  11.  The  belief 
in  Reward  and  Punishment;  12.  The  belief  in  the  coming 
of  the  Messiah;  13.  The  belief  in  the  Resurrection  of  the 
dead. 

The  impulse  given  by  the  great  philosopher  and  still 
greater  Jew  was  eagerly  followed  by  succeeding  genera- 
tions, and  Judaism  thus  came  into  possession  of  a  dogmatic 
literature  such  as  it  never  knew  before  Maimonides.  Mai- 
monides is  the  centre  of  this  literature,  and  I  shall  accord- 
ingly speak  in  the  remainder  of  this  essay  of  Maimonists 
and  Anti-Maimonists.  These  terms  really  apply  to  the 
great  controversy  that  raged  round  Maimonides'  Guide  of 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

the  Perplexed,  but  I  shall,  chiefly  for  brevity's  sake,  em- 
ploy them  in  these  pages  in  a  restricted  sense  to  refer  to 
the  dispute  concerning  the  Thirteen  Articles. 

Among  the  Maimonists  we  may  probably  include  the 
great  majority  of  Jews,  who  accepted  the  Thirteen  Articles 
without  further  question.  Maimonides  must  indeed  have 
filled  up  a  great  gap  in  Jewish  theology,  a  gap,  moreover, 
the  existence  of  which  was  very  generally  perceived.  A 
century  had  hardly  elapsed  before  the  Thirteen  Articles 
had  become  a  theme  for  the  poets  of  the  Synagogue.  And 
almost  every  country  where  Jews  lived  can  show  a  poem 
or  a  prayer  founded  on  these  Articles.  R.  Jacob  Molin 
(1420)  of  Germany  speaks  of  metrical  and  rhymed  songs 
in  the  German  language,  the  burden  of  which  was  the 
Thirteen  Articles,  and  which  were  read  by  the  common 
people  with  great  devotion.  The  numerous  commentaries 
and  homilies  written  on  the  same  topic  would  form  a  small 
library  in  themselves.14  But  on  the  other  hand  it  must 
not  be  denied  that  the  Anti-Maimonists,  that  is  to  say 
those  Jewish  writers  who  did  not  agree  with  the  creed 
formulated  by  Maimonides,  or  agreed  only  in  part  with 
him,  form  also  a  very  strong  and  respectable  minority. 
They  deserve  our  attention  the  more  as  it  is  their  works 
which  brought  life  into  the  subject  and  deepened  it.  It 
is  not  by  a  perpetual  Amen  to  every  utterance  of  a  great 
authority  that  truth  or  literature  gains  anything. 

The  Anti-Maimonists  can  be  divided  into  two  classes. 
The  one  class  categorically  denies  that  Judaism  has  dog- 
mas. I  shall  have  occasion  to  touch  on  this  view  when  I 
come  to  speak  of  Abarbanel.  Here  I  pass  at  once  to  the 
second  class  of  Anti-Maimonists.  This  consists  of  those 
who  agree  with  Maimonides  as  to  the  existence  of  dogmas 


THE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM  16$ 

in  Judiasm,  but  who  differ  from  him  as  to  what  these 
dogmas  are,  or  who  give  a  different  enumeration  of 
them. 

As  the  first  of  these  Anti-Maimonists  we  may  regard 
Nachmanides,  who,  in  his  famous  Sermon  in  the  Presence 
of  tJie  King,  speaks  of  three  fundamental  principles  :  Crea- 
tion (that  is,  non-eternity  of  matter),  Omniscience  of  God, 
and  Providence.  Next  comes  R.  Abba  Mari  ben  Moses, 
of  Montpellier.  He  wrote  at  the  beginning  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  and  is  famous  in  Jewish  history  for  his 
zeal  against  the  study  of  philosophy.  We  possess  a  small 
pamphlet  by  him  dealing  with  our  subject,  and  it  forms 
a  kind  of  prologue  to  his  collection  of  controversial  let- 
ters against  the  rationalists  of  his  time.15  He  lays  down 
three  articles  as  the  fundamental  teachings  of  Religion : 
i.  Metaphysical :  The  existence  of  God,  including  His  Unity 
and  Incorporeality ;  2.  Mosaic :  Creatio  ex  nihilo  by  God 
—  a  consequence  of  this  principle  is  the  belief  that  God 
is  capable  of  altering  the  laws  of  nature  at  His  pleasure ; 
3.  Ethical:  Special  Providence  —  i.e.  God  knows  all  our 
actions  in  all  their  details.  Abba  Mari  does  not  mention 
Maimonides'  Thirteen  Articles.  But  it  would  be  false  to 
conclude  that  he  rejected  the  belief  in  the  coming  of  the 
Messiah,  or  any  other  article  of  Maimonides.  The  whole 
tone  and  tendency  of  this  pamphlet  is  polemical,  and  it  is 
therefore  probable  that  he  only  urged  those  points  which 
were  either  doubted  or  explained  in  an  unorthodox  way  by 
the  sceptics  of  his  time. 

Another  scholar,  of  Provence,  who  wrote  but  twenty 
years  later  than  Abba  Mari — R.  David  ben  Samuel 
d'Estella  (1320)  —  speaks  of  the  seven  pillars  of  religion. 
They  are :  Revelation,  Providence,  Reward  and  Punish- 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

ment,  the  Coming  of  the  Messiah,  Resurrection  of  the 
Dead,  Creatio  ex  nihilo,  and  Free  Will.16 

Of  authors  living  in  other  countries,  I  have  to  mention 
here  R.  Shemariah,  of  Crete,  who  flourished  at  about  the 
same  time  as  R.  David  d'Estella,  and  is  known  from  his 
efforts  to  reconcile  the  Caraites  with  the  Rabbanites. 
This  author  wrote  a  book  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing 
Jewish  students  with  evidence  for  what  he  considered  the 
five  fundamental  teachings  of  Judaism,  viz.  :  i.  The  Exis- 
tence of  God;  2.  The  Incorporeality  of  God;  3.  His 
Absolute  Unity ;  4.  That  God  created  heaven  and  earth ; 
5.  That  God  created  the  world  after  His  will  5106  years 
ago  —  5106  (1346  A.C.),  being  the  year  in  which  Shemariah 
wrote  these  words.17 

In  Portugal,  at  about  the  same  time,  we  find  R.  David 
ben  Yom-Tob  Bilia  adding  to  the  articles  of  Maimonides 
thirteen  of  his  own,  which  he  calls  the  "  Fundamentals  of 
the  Thinking  Man."  Five  of  these  articles  relate  to  the 
functions  of  the  human  soul,  that,  according  to  him, 
emanated  from  God,  and  to  the  way  in  which  this  divine 
soul  receives  its  punishment  and  reward.  The  other  eight 
articles  are  as  follows:  i.  The  belief  in  the  existence  of 
spiritual  beings  —  angels;  2.  Creatio  ex  nihilo ;  3.  The 
belief  in  the  existence  of  another  world,  and  that  this 
other  world  is  only  a  spiritual  one ;  4.  The  Torah  is  above 
philosophy;  5.  The  Torah  has  an  outward  (literal)  mean- 
ing and  an  inward  (allegorical)  meaning ;  6.  The  text  of 
the  Torah  is  not  subject  to  any  emendation ;  7.  The 
reward  of  a  good  action  is  the  good  work  itself,  and  the 
doer  must  not  expect  any  other  reward ;  8.  It  is  only  by 
the  "  commands  relating  to  the  heart,"  for  instance,  the 
belief  in  one  eternal  God,  the  loving  and  fearing  Him,  and 


THE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM 

not  through  good  actions,  that  man  attains  the  highest 
degree  of  perfection.18  Perhaps  it  would  be  suitable  to 
mention  here  another  contemporaneous  writer,  who  also 
enumerates  twenty-six  articles.  The  name  of  this  writer 
is  unknown,  and  his  articles  are  only  gathered  from  quo- 
tations by  later  authors.  It  would  seem  from  these  quota- 
tions that  the  articles  of  this  unknown  author  consisted 
mostly  of  statements  emphasising  the  belief  in  the  attri- 
butes of  God :  as,  His  Eternity,  His  Wisdom  and  Omnip- 
otence, and  the  like.19 

More  important  for  our  subject  are  the  productions  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  especially  those  of  Spanish  authors. 
The  fifteen  articles  of  R.  Lipman  Muhlhausen,  in  the  pref- 
ace to  his  well-known  Book  of  Victory*®  (1410),  differ  but 
slightly  from  those  of  Maimonides.  In  accordance  with 
the  anti-Christian  tendency  of  his  polemical  book,  he  lays 
more  stress  on  the  two  articles  of  Unity  and  Incorpo- 
reality,  and  makes  of  them  four.  We  can  therefore  dis- 
miss him  with  this  short  remark,  and  pass  at  once  to  the 
Spanish  Rabbis. 

The  first  of  these  is  R.  Chasdai  Ibn  Crescas,  who  com- 
posed his  famous  treatise,  The  Light,  of  God,  about  1405. 
Chasdai's  book  is  well  known  for  its  attacks  on  Aristotle, 
and  also  for  its  influence  on  Spinoza.  But  Chasdai  deals 
also  with  Maimonides'  Thirteen  Articles,  to  which  he  was 
very  strongly  opposed.  Already  in  his  preface  he  attacks 
Maimonides  for  speaking,  in  his  Book  of  the  Command- 
ments, of  the  belief  in  the  existence  of  God  as  an  "  affirma- 
tive precept."  Chasdai  thinks  it  absurd;  for  every  com- 
mandment must  be  dictated  by  some  authority,  but  on 
whose  authority  can  we  dictate  the  acceptance  of  this 
authority?  His  general  objection  to  the  Thirteen  Articles 


!68  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

is  that  Maimonides  confounded  dogmas  or  fundamental 
beliefs  of  Judaism,  without  which  Judaism  is  inconceivable, 
with  beliefs  or  doctrines  which  Judaism  inculcates,  but  the 
denial  of  which,  though  involving  a  strong  heresy,  does 
not  make  Judaism  impossible.  He  maintains  that  if 
Maimonides  meant  only  to  count  fundamental  teachings, 
there  are  not  more  than  seven ;  but  that  if  he  intended 
also  to  include  doctrines,  he  ought  to  have  enumerated 
sixteen.  As  beliefs  of  the  first  class  —  namely,  fundamen- 
tal beliefs  —  he  considers  the  following  articles  :  i.  God's 
knowledge  of  our  actions ;  2.  Providence ;  3.  God's  om- 
nipotence—  even  to  act  against  the  laws  of  nature; 
4.  Prophecy;  5.  Free  will;  6.  The  aim  of  the  Torah  is 
to  make  man  long  after  the  closest  communion  with  God. 
The  belief  in  the  existence  of  God,  Chasdai  thinks,  is  an 
axiom  with  which  every  religion  must  begin,  and  he  is 
therefore  uncertain  whether  to  include  it  as  a  dogma  or 
not.  As  to  the  doctrines  which  every  Jew  is  bound  to 
believe,  but  without  which  Judaism  is  not  impossible, 
Chasdai  divides  them  into  two  sections :  (a)  I .  Creatio  ex 
nihilo ;  2.  Immortality  of  the  soul ;  3.  Reward  and  Pun- 
ishment; 4.  Resurrection  of  the  dead;  5.  Immutability 
of  the  Torah ;  6.  Superiority  of  the  prophecy  of  Moses ; 
7.  That  the  High  Priest  received  from  God  the  instructions 
sought  for,  when  he  put  his  questions  through  the  medium 
of  the  Urim  and  Thummim ;  8.  The  coming  of  the  Mes- 
siah. (U)  Doctrines  which  are  expressed  by  certain  relig- 
ious ceremonies,  and  on  belief  in  which  these  ceremonies 
are  conditioned  :  i.  The  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer  — 
as  well  as  in  the  power  of  the  benediction  of  the  priests  to 
convey  to  us  the  blessing  of  God ;  2.  God  is  merciful  to 
the  penitent;  3.  Certain  days  in  the  year  —  for  instance, 


THE  DOGMAS  OF  JUDAISM 

the  Day  of  Atonement  —  are  especially  qualified  to  bring 
us  near  to  God,  if  we  keep  them  in  the  way  we  are  com- 
manded. That  Chasdai  is  a  little  arbitrary  in  the  choice 
of  his  "doctrines,"  I  need  hardly  say.  Indeed,  Chasdai's 
importance  for  the  dogma-question  consists  more  in  his 
critical  suggestions  than  in  his  positive  results.  He  was, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  first  to  make  the  distinction  between 
fundamental  teachings  which  form  the  basis  of  Judaism, 
and  those  other  simple  Jewish  doctrines  without  which 
Judaism  is  not  impossible.  Very  daring  is  his  remark, 
when  proving  that  Reward  and  Punishment,  Immortality 
of  the  soul,  and  Resurrection  of  the  dead  must  not  be  con- 
sidered as  the  basis  of  Judaism,  since  the  highest  ideal  of 
religion  is  to  serve  God  without  any  hope  of  reward.  Even 
more  daring  are  his  words  concerning  the  Immutability 
of  the  Law.  He  says :  "  Some  have  argued  that,  since 
God  is  perfection,  so  must  also  His  law  be  perfect,  and 
thus  unsusceptible  of  improvement."  But  he  does  not 
think  this  argument  conclusive,  though  the  fact  in  itself 
(the  Immutability  of  the  Law)  is  true.  For  one  might 
answer  that  this  perfection  of  the  Torah  could  only  be  in 
accordance  with  the  intelligence  of  those  for  whom  it  was 
meant;  but  as  soon  as  the  recipients  of  the  Torah  have 
advanced  to  a  higher  state  of  perfection,  the  Torah  must 
also  be  altered  to  suit  their  advanced  intelligence.  A 
pupil  of  Chasdai  illustrates  the  words  of  his  master  by  a 
medical  parallel.  The  physician  has  to  adapt  his  medica- 
ments to  the  various  stages  through  which  his  patient  has 
to  pass.  That  he  changes  his  prescription  does  not,  how- 
ever, imply  that  his  medical  knowledge  is  imperfect,  or 
that  his  earlier  remedies  were  ignorantly  chosen ;  the  vary- 
ing condition  of  the  invalid  was  the  cause  of  the  variation 


A  * 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

in  the  doctor's  treatment.  Similarly,  were  not  the  Immu- 
tability of  the  Torah  a  "doctrine,"  one  might  maintain 
that  the  perfection  of  the  Torah  would  not  be  inconsistent 
with  the  assumption  that  it  was  susceptible  of  modifi- 
cation, in  accordance  with  our  changing  and  progressive 
circumstances.  But  all  these  arguments  are  purely  of  a 
theoretic  character;  for,  practically,  every  Jew,  according 
to  Chasdai,  has  to  accept  all  these  beliefs,  whether  he 
terms  them  fundamental  teachings  or  only  Jewish  doc- 
trines.21 

Some  years  later,  though  he  finished  his  work  in  the 
same  year  as  Chasdai,  R.  Simeon  Duran  (1366-1444,)  a 
younger  contemporary  of  the  former,  made  his  researches 
on  dogmas.  His  studies  on  this  subject  form  a  kind  of 
introduction  to  his  commentary  on  Job,  which  he  finished 
in  the  year  1405.  Duran  is  not  so  strongly  opposed  to 
the  Thirteen  Articles  as  Chasdai,  or  as  another  "  thinker 
of  our  people,"  who  thought  them  an  arbitrary  imitation 
of  the  thirteen  attributes  of  God.  Duran  tries  to  justify 
Maimonides ;  but  nevertheless  he  agrees  with  "  earlier 
authorities,"  who  formulated  the  Jewish  creed  in  Three 
Articles  —  The  Existence  of  God,  Revelation,  and  Reward 
and  Punishment  —  under  which  Duran  thinks  the  Thir- 
teen Articles  of  Maimonides  may  be  easily  classed.  Most 
interesting  are  his  remarks  concerning  the  validity  of  dog- 
mas. He  tells  us  that  only  those  are  to  be  considered 
as  heretics  who  abide  by  their  own  opinions,  though  they 
know  that  they  are  contradictory  to  the  views  of  the 
Torah.  Those  who  accept  the  fundamental  teachings  of 
Judaism,  but  are  led  by  their  deep  studies  and  earnest 
reflection  to  differ  in  details  from  the  opinions  current 
among  their  co-religionists,  and  explain  certain  passages 


THE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM  iji 

in  the  Scripture  in  their  own  way,  must  by  no  means  be 
considered  as  heretics.  We  must,  therefore,  Duran  pro- 
ceeds to  say,  not  blame  such  men  as  Maimonides,  who 
gave  an  allegorical  interpretation  to  certain  passages  in 
the  Bible  about  miracles,  or  R.  Levi  ben  Gershom,  who 
followed  certain  un-Jewish  views  in  relation  to  the  belief 
in  Creatio  ex  nihilo.  Only  the  views  are  condemnable, 
not  those  who  cherish  them.  God  forbid,  says  Duran, 
that  such  a  thing  should  happen  in  Israel  as  to  condemn 
honest  inquirers  on  account  of  their  differing  opinions. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  know  of  how  many  divines  as 
tolerant  as  this  persecuted  Jew  the  fifteenth  century  can 
boast.22 

We  can  now  pass  to  a  more  popular  but  less  original 
writer  on  our  theme.  I  refer  to  R.  Joseph  Albo,  the 
author  of  the  Roots^  who  was  the  pupil  of  Chasdai,  a 
younger  contemporary  of  Duran,  and  wrote  at  a  much 
later  period  than  these  authors.  Graetz  has  justly  denied 
him  much  originality.  The  chief  merit  of  Albo  consists 
in  popularising  other  people's  thoughts,  though  he  does 
not  always  take  care  to  mention  their  names.  And  the 
student  who  is  a  little  familiar  with  the  contents  of  the 
Roots  will  easily  find  that  Albo  has  taken  his  best  ideas 
either  from  Chasdai  or  from  Duran.  As  it  is  of  little 
consequence  to  us  whether  an  article  of  faith  is  called 
"stem,"  or  "root,"  or  "branch,"  there  is  scarcely  anything 
fresh  left  to  quote  in  the  name  of  Albo.  The  late  Dr. 
Low,  of  Szegedin,  was  indeed  right,  when  he  answered 
an  adversary  who  challenged  him  —  "  Who  would  dare  to 
declare  me  a  heretic  as  long  as  I  confess  the  Three  Arti- 
cles laid  down  by  Albo  ?  "  with  the  words  "  Albo  himself." 
For,  after  all  the  subtle  distinctions  Albo  makes  between 


If 2  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

different  classes  of  dogmas,  he  declares  that  every  one 
who  denies  even  the  immutability  of  the  Law  or  the  com- 
ing of  the  Messiah,  which  are,  according  to  him,  articles 
of  minor  importance,  is  a  heretic  who  will  be  excluded 
from  the  world  to  come.  But  there  is  one  point  in  his 
book  which  is  worth  noticing.  It  was  suggested  to  him 
by  Maimonides,  indeed;  still  Albo  has  the  merit  of  having 
emphasised  it  as  it  deserves.  Among  the  articles  which 
he  calls  "  branches  "  Albo  counts  the  belief  that  the  per- 
fection of  man,  which  leads  to  eternal  life,  can  be  obtained 
by  the  fulfilling  of  one  commandment.  But  this  command 
must,  as  Maimonides  points  out,  be  done  without  any 
worldly  regard,  and  only  for  the  love  of  God.  When  one 
considers  how  many  platitudes  are  repeated  year  by  year 
by  certain  theologians  on  the  subject  of  Jewish  legalism, 
we  cannot  lay  enough  stress  on  this  article  of  Albo,  and 
we  ought  to  make  it  better  known  than  it  has  hitherto 
been.24 

Though  I  cannot  enter  here  into  the  enumeration  of  the 
Maimonists,  I  must  not  leave  unmentioned  the  name  of 
R.  Nissim  ben  Moses  of  Marseilles,  the  first  great  Mai- 
monist,  who  flourished  about  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  was  considered  as  one  of  the  most  enlight- 
ened thinkers  of  his  age.26  Another  great  Maimonist 
deserving  special  attention  is  R.  Abraham  ben  Shem-Tob 
Bibago,  who  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as  the  most  promi- 
nent among  those  who  undertook  to  defend  Maimonides 
against  the  attacks  of  Chasdai  and  others.  Bibago  wrote 
The  Path  of  Belief™  in  the  second  half  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  and  was,  as  Dr.  Steinschneider  aptly  describes 
him,  a  Denkgldubiger.  But,  above  all,  he  was  a  believing 
Jew.  When  he  was  once  asked,  at  the  table  of  King 


THE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM  lj<$ 

John  II.,  of  Aragon,  by  a  Christian  scholar,  "Are  you  the 
Jewish  philosopher  ? "  he  answered,  "  I  am  a  Jew  who 
believes  in  the  Law  given  to  us  by  our  teacher  Moses, 
though  I  have  studied  philosophy."  Bibago  was  such  a 
devoted  admirer  of  Maimonides  that  he  could  not  tolerate 
any  opposition  to  him.  He  speaks  in  one  passage  of  the 
prudent  people  of  his  time  who,  in  desiring  to  be  looked 
upon  as  orthodox  by  the  great  mob,  calumniated  the 
Teacher  (Maimonides),  and  depreciated  his  merits.  Bi- 
bago's  book  is  very  interesting,  especially  in  its  contro- 
versial parts;  but  in  respect  to  dogmas  he  is,  as  already 
said,  a  Maimonist,  and  does  not  contribute  any  new  point 
on  our  subject. 

To  return  to  the  Anti-Maimonists  of  the  second  half 
of  the  fifteenth  century.  As  such  may  be  considered 
R.  Isaac  Aramah,  who  speaks  of  three  foundations  of 
religion :  Creatio  ex  nihilo,  Revelation  (?),  and  the  belief 
in  a  world  to  come.27  Next  to  be  mentioned  is  R.  Joseph 
Jabez,  who  also  accepts  only  three  articles :  Creatio  ex 
nihilo,  Individual  Providence,  and  the  Unity  of  God.28 
Under  these  three  heads  he  tries  to  classify  the  Thirteen 
Articles  of  Maimonides. 

The  last  Spanish  writer  on  our  subject  is  R.  Isaac 
Abarbanel.  His  treatise  on  the  subject  is  known  under 
the  title  Top  of  Amanah^  and  was  finished  in  the  year 
1495.  The  greatest  part  of  this  treatise  forms  a  defence 
of  Maimonides,  many  points  in  which  are  taken  from 
Bibago.  But,  in  spite  of  this  fact,  Abarbanel  must  not 
be  considered  a  Maimonist.  It  is  only  a  feeling  of  piety 
'towards  Maimonides,  or  perhaps  rather  a  fondness  for 
argument,  that  made  him  defend  Maimonides  against 
Chasdai  and  others.  His  own  view  is  that  it  is  a  mistake 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

to  formulate  dogmas  of  Judaism,  since  every  word  in  the 
Torah  has  to  be  considered  as  a  dogma  for  itself.  It  was 
only,  says  Abarbanel,  by  following  the  example  of  non- 
Jewish  scholars  that  Maimonides  and  others  were  induced 
to  lay  down  dogmas.  The  non-Jewish  philosophers  are 
in  the  habit  of  accepting  in  every  science  certain  indis- 
putable axioms  from  which  they  deduce  the  propositions 
which  are  less  evident.  The  Jewish  philosophers  in  a 
similar  way  sought  for  first  principles  in  religion  from 
which  the  whole  of  the  Torah  ought  to  be  considered  as 
a  deduction.  But,  thinks  Abarbanel,  the  Torah  as  a 
revealed  code  is  under  no  necessity  of  deducing  things 
from  each  other,  for  all  the  commands  came  from  the 
same  divine  authority,  and,  therefore,  all  are  alike  evident, 
and  have  the  same  certainty.  On  this  and  similar  grounds 
Abarbanel  refused  to  accept  dogmatic  articles  for  Judaism, 
and  he  thus  became  the  head  of  the  school  that  forms 
a  class  by  itself  among  the  Anti-Maimonists  to  which 
many  of  the  greatest  Cabbalists  also  belong.  But  it  is 
idle  talk  to  cite  this  school  in  aid  of  the  modern  theory 
that  Judaism  has  no  dogmas.  As  we  have  seen,  it  was 
rather  an  embarras  de  riches se  that  prevented  Abarbanel 
from  accepting  the  Thirteen  Articles  of  Maimonides.  To 
him  and  to  the  Cabbalists  the  Torah  consists  of  at  least 
613  Articles. 

Abarbanel  wrote  his  book  with  which  we  have  just 
dealt,  at  Naples.  And  it  is  Italy  to  which,  after  the 
expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  Spain,  we  have  to  look  chiefly 
for  religious  speculation.  But  the  philosophers  of  Italy ( 
are  still  less  independent  of  Maimonides  than  their  pred- 
ecessors in  Spain.  Thus  we  find  that  R.  David  Messer 
Leon,  R.  David  Vital,  and  others  were  Maimonists. 


THE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM  ij$ 

Even  the  otherwise  refined  and  original  thinker,  R.  Eli- 
jah Delmedigo  (who  died  about  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century)  becomes  almost  impolite  when  he  speaks  of  the 
adversaries  of  Maimonides  in  respect  to  dogmas.  "  It 
was  only,"  he  says,  "  the  would-be  philosopher  that  dared 
to  question  the  articles  of  Maimonides.  Our  people  have 
always  the  bad  habit  of  thinking  themselves  competent 
to  attack  the  greatest  authorities  as  soon  as  they  have  got 
some  knowledge  of  the  subject.  Genuine  thinkers,  how- 
ever, attach  very  little  importance  to  their  objections.30 

Indeed,  it  seems  as  if  the  energetic  protests  of  Del- 
medigo scared  away  the  Anti-Maimonists  for  more  than 
a  century.  Even  in  the  following  seventeenth  century 
we  have  to  notice  only  two  Anti-Maimonists.  The  one 
is  R.  Tobijah,  the  Priest  (1652),  who  was  of  Polish  de- 
scent, studied  in  Italy,  and  lived  as  a  medical  man  in 
France.  He  seems  to  refuse  to  accept  the  belief  in  the 
Immutability  of  the  Torah,  and  in  the  coming  of  the  Mes- 
siah, as  fundamental  teachings  of  Judaism.31  The  other, 
at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  (1695),  is  R.  Abra- 
ham Chayim  Viterbo,  of  Italy.  He  accepts  only  six 
articles:  i.  Existence  of  God ;  2.  Unity;  3.  Incorporeal- 
ity ;  4.  That  God  was  revealed  to  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai, 
and  that  the  prophecy  of  Moses  is  true;  5.  Revelation 
(including  the  historical  parts  of  the  Torah) ;  6.  Reward 
and  Punishment.  As  to  the  other  articles  of  Maimonides, 
Viterbo,  in  opposition  to  other  half-hearted  Anti-Maimon- 
ists, declares  that  the  man  who  denies  them  is  not  to  be 
considered  as  a  heretic ;  though  he  ought  to  believe 
them.32 

I  have  now  arrived  at  the  limit  I  set  to  myself  at  the 
beginning  of  this  essay.  For,  between  the  times  of 


I76  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Viterbo  and  those  of  Mendelssohn,  there  is  hardly  to  be 
found  any  serious  opposition  to  Maimonides  worth  notic- 
ing here.  Still  I  must  mention  the  name  of  R.  Saul 
Berlin  (died  1794);  there  is  much  in  his  opinions  on 
dogmas  which  will  help  us  the  better  to  understand  the 
Thirteen  Articles  of  Maimonides.  As  the  reader  has 
seen,  I  have  refrained  so  far  from  reproducing  here  the 
apologies  which  were  made  by  many  Maimonists  in  behalf 
of  the  Thirteen  Articles.  For,  after  all  their  elaborate 
pleas,  none  of  them  was  able  to  clear  Maimonides  of  the 
charge  of  having  confounded  dogmas  or  fundamental 
teachings  with  doctrines.  It  is  also  true  that  the  Fifth 
Article  —  that  prayer  and  worship  must  only  be  offered 
to  God  —  cannot  be  considered  even  as  a  doctrine,  but 
as  a  simple  precept.  And  there  are  other  difficulties 
which  all  the  distinctions  of  the  Maimonists  will  never 
be  able  to  solve.  The  only  possible  justification  is,  I 
think,  that  suggested  by  a  remark  of  R.  Saul.  This 
author,  who  was  himself  —  like  his  friend  and  older 
contemporary  Mendelssohn  —  a  strong  Anti-Maimonist, 
among  other  remarks,  maintains  that  dogmas  must  never 
be  laid  down  but  with  regard  to  the  necessities  of  the 
time.33 

Now  R.  Saul  certainly  did  not  doubt  that  Judaism  is 
based  on  eternal  truths  which  can  in  no  way  be  shaken 
by  new  modes  of  thinking  or  changed  circumstances. 
What  he  meant  was  that  there  are  in  every  age  certain 
beliefs  which  ought  to  be  asserted  more  emphatically 
than  others,  without  regard  to  their  theological  or  rather 
logical  importance.  It  is  by  this  maxim  that  we  shall 
be  able  to  explain  the  articles  of  Maimonides.  He  as- 
serted them,  because  they  were  necessary  for  his  time. 


THE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM 

We  know,  for  instance,  from  a  letter  of  his  son  and  from 
other  contemporaries,  that  it  was  just  at  his  time  that 
the  belief  in  the  incorporeality  of  God  was,  in  the  opin- 
ion of  Maimonides,  a  little  relaxed.  Maimonides,  who 
thought  such  low  notions  of  the  Deity  dangerous  to 
Judaism,  therefore  laid  down  an  article  against  them. 
He  tells  us  in  his  Guide  that  it  was  far  from  him  to 
condemn  any  one  who  was  not  able  to  demonstrate  the 
Incorporeality  of  God,  but  he  stigmatised  as  a  heretic 
one  who  refused  to  believe  it.  This  position  might  be 
paralleled  by  that  of  a  modern  astronomer  who,  while 
considering  it  unreasonable  to  expect  a  mathematical 
demonstration  of  the  movements  of  the  eajrth  from  an 
ordinary  unscientific  man,  would  yet  regard  the  person 
who  refused  to  believe  in  such  movements  as  an  ignorant 
faddist. 

Again,  Maimonides  undoubtedly  knew  that  there  may 
be  found  in  the  Talmud  —  that  bottomless  sea  with  its 
innumerable  undercurrents  —  passages  that  are  not  quite 
in  harmony  with  his  articles ;  for  instance,  the  well-known 
dictum  of  R.  Hillel,  who  said,  there  is  no  Messiah  for 
Israel  —  a  passage  which  has  already  been  quoted  ad 
nauseam  by  every  opponent  of  Maimonides  from  the 
earliest  times  down  to  the  year  of  grace  1896.  Maimon- 
ides was  well  aware  of  the  existence  of  this  and  similar 
passages.  But,  being  deeply  convinced  of  the  necessity 
of  the  belief  in  a  future  redemption  of  Israel — in  oppo- 
sition to  other  creeds  which  claim  this  redemption  ex- 
clusively for  their  own  adherents  —  Maimonides  simply 
ignored  the  saying  of  R.  Hillel,  as  an  isolated  opinion 
which  contradicts  all  the  consciousness  and  traditions  of 
the  Jew  as  expressed  in  thousands  of  other  passages,  and 


If8  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

especially  in  the  liturgy.  Most  interesting  is  Maimonides' 
view  about  such  isolated  opinions  in  a  letter  to  the  wise 
men  of  Marseilles.  He  deals  there  with  the  question  of 
free  will  and  other  theological  subjects.  After  having 
stated  his  own  view  he  goes  on  to  say  :  "  I  know  that 
it  is  possible  to  find  in  the  Talmud  or  in  the  Midrash 
this  or  that  saying  in  contradiction  to  the  views  you  have 
heard  from  me.  But  you  must  not  be  troubled  by  them. 
One  must  not  refuse  to  accept  a  doctrine,  the  truth  of 
which  has  been  proved,  on  account  of  its  being  in  opposi- 
tion to  some  isolated  opinion  held  by  this  or  that  great 
authority.  Is  it  not  possible  that  he  overlooked  some 
important  considerations  when  he  uttered  this  strange 
opinion  ?  It  is  also  possible  that  his  words  must  not  be 
taken  literally,  and  have  to  be  explained  in  an  allegorical 
way.  We  can  also  think  that  his  words  were  only  to  be 
applied  with  regard  to  certain  circumstances  of  his  time, 
but  never  intended  as  permanent  truths.  .  .  .  No  man 
must  surrender  his  private  judgment.  The  eyes  are  not 
directed  backwards  but  forwards."  In  another  place 
Maimonides  calls  the  suppression  of  one's  own  opinions  — 
for  the  reason  of  their  being  irreconcilable  with  the  iso- 
lated views  of  some  great  authority  —  a  moral  suicide. 

By  such  motives  Maimonides  was  guided  when  he  left 
certain  views  hazarded  in  the  Rabbinic  literature  un- 
heeded, and  followed  what  we  may  perhaps  call  the 
religious  instinct,  trusting  to  his  own  conscience.  We 
may  again  be  certain  that  Maimonides  was  clear-headed 
enough  to  see  that  the  words  of  the  Torah :  "  And  there 
arose  no  prophet  since  in  Israel  like  unto  Moses  "  (Deut. 
xxxiv.  10),  were  as  little  intended  to  imply  a  doctrine  as 
the  passage  relating  to  the  king  Josiah,  "And  like  unto 


THE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM 

him  was  there  no  king  before  him  that  turned  to  the  Lord 
with  all  his  heart  .  .  .  neither  after  him  arose  there  any 
like  him"  (2  Kings  xxiii.  25).  And  none  would  think  of 
declaring  the  man  a  heretic  who  should  believe  another 
king  to  be  as  pious  as  Josiah.  But  living  among  followers 
of  the  "  imitating  creeds "  (as  he  calls  Christianity  and 
Mohammedism),  who  claimed  that  their  religion  had  super- 
seded the  law  of  Moses,  Maimonides,  consciously  or  un- 
consciously, felt  himself  compelled  to  assert  the  supe- 
riority of  the  prophecy  of  Moses.  And  so  we  may  guess 
that  every  article  of  Maimonides  which  seems  to  offer 
difficulties  to  us  contains  an  assertion  of  some  relaxed 
belief,  or  a  protest  against  the  pretensions  of  other  creeds, 
though  we  are  not  always  able  to  discover  the  exact  neces- 
sity for  them.  On  the  other  hand,  Maimonides  did  not 
assert  the  belief  in  free  will,  for  which  he  argued  so  ear- 
nestly in  his  Guide.  The  common  "  man,"  with  his  simple 
unspeculative  mind,  for  whom  these  Thirteen  Articles  were 
intended,  "never  dreamed  that  the  will  was  not  free,"  and 
there  was  no  necessity  of  impressing  on  his  mind  things 
which  he  had  never  doubted.34 

So  much  about  Maimonides.  As  to  the  Anti-Maimon- 
ists,  it  could  hardly  escape  the  reader  that  in  some  of  the 
quoted  systems  the  difference  from  the  view  of  Maimonides 
is  only  a  logical  one,  not  a  theological.  Of  some  authors 
again,  especially  those  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  cen- 
turies, it  is  not  at  all  certain  whether  they  intended  to  op- 
pose Maimonides.  Others  again,  as  for  instance  R.  Abba 
Mari,  R.  Lipman,  and  R.  Joseph  Jabez,  acted  on  the 
same  principle  as  Maimonides,  urging  only  those  teach- 
ings of  Judaism  which  they  thought  endangered.  One 
could  now,  indeed,  animated  by  the  praiseworthy  exam- 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

pie  given  to  us  by  Maimonides,  also  propose  some  arti- 
cles of  faith  which  are  suggested  to  us  by  the  necessities 
of  our  own  time.  One  might,  for  instance,  insert  the 
article,  "  I  believe  that  Judaism  is,  in  the  first  instance, 
a  divine  religion,  not  a  mere  complex  of  racial  pecul- 
iarities and  tribal  customs."  One  might  again  propose 
an  article  to  the  effect  that  Judaism  is  a  proselytising 
religion,  having  the  mission  to  bring  about  God's  king- 
dom on  earth,  and  to  include  in  that  kingdom  all  man- 
kind. One  might  also  submit  for  consideration  whether 
it  would  not  be  advisable  to  urge  a  little  more  the  prin- 
ciple that  religion  means  chiefly  a  Weltanschauung  and 
worship  of  God  by  means  of  holiness  both  in  thought 
and  in  action.  One  would  even  not  object  to  accept  the 
article  laid  down  by  R.  Saul,  that  we  have  to  look  upon 
ourselves  as  sinners.  Morbid  as  such  a  belief  may  be,  it 
would,  if  properly  impressed  on  our  mind,  have  perhaps 
the  wholesome  effect  of  cooling  down  a  little  our  self- 
importance  and  our  mutual  admiration  that  makes  all 
progress  among  us  almost  impossible. 

But  it  was  not  my  purpose  to  ventilate  here  the  question 
whether  Maimonides'  articles  are  sufficient  for  us,  or 
whether  we  ought  not  to  add  new  ones  to  them.  Nor  do 
I  attempt  to  decide  what  system  we  ought  to  prefer  for 
recitation  in  the  Synagogue  —  that  of  Maimonides  or  that 
of  Chasdai,  or  of  any  other  writer.  I  do  not  think  that 
such  a  recital  is  of  much  use.  My  object  in  this  sketch 
has  been  rather  to  make  the  reader  think  about  Judaism, 
by  proving  that  it  regulates  not  only  our  actions,  but  also 
our  thoughts.  We  usually  urge  that  in  Judaism  religion 
means  life ;  but  we  forget  that  a  life  without  guiding 
principles  and  thoughts  is  a  life  not  worth  living.  At 


THE  DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM  j8i 

least  it  was  so  considered  by  the  greatest  Jewish  thinkers, 
and  hence  their  efforts  to  formulate  the  creed  of  Judaism, 
so  that  men  should  not  only  be  able  to  do  the  right  thing, 
but  also  to  think  the  right  thing.  Whether  they  suc- 
ceeded in  their  attempts  towards  formulating  the  creed 
of  Judaism  or  not  will  always  remain  a  question.  This 
concerns  the  logician  more  than  the  theologian.  But 
surely  Maimonides  and  his  successors  did  succeed  in 
having  a  religion  depending  directly  on  God,  with  the 
most  ideal  and  lofty  aspirations  for  the  future ;  whilst  the 
Judaism  of  a  great  part  of  our  modern  theologians  reminds 
one  very  much  of  the  words  with  which  the  author  of 
Marius  the  Epicurean  characterises  the  Roman  religion 
in  the  days  of  her  decline :  a  religion  which  had  been 
always  something  to  be  done  rather  than  something  to 
be  thought,  or  believed,  or  loved. 

Political  economy,  hygiene,  statistics,  are  very  fine 
things.  But  no  sane  man  would  for  them  make  those 
sacrifices  which  Judaism  requires  from  us.  It  is  only  for 
God's  sake,  to  fulfil  His  commands  and  to  accomplish  His 
purpose,  that  religion  becomes  worth  living  and  dying  for. 
And  this  can  only  be  possible  with  a  religion  which 
possesses  dogmas. 

It  is  true  that  every  great  religion  is  "  a  concentration 
of  many  ideas  and  ideals,"  which  make  this  religion  able 
to  adapt  itself  to  various  modes  of  thinking  and  living. 
But  there  must  always  be  a  point  round  which  all  these 
ideas  concentrate  themselves.  This  centre  is  Dogma. 


VII 
THE   HISTORY   OF  JEWISH   TRADITION 

THERE  is  an  anecdote  about  a  famous  theologian  to  the 
effect  that  he  used  to  tell  his  pupils,  "  Should  I  ever 
grow  old  and  weak  —  which  usually  drives  people  to  em- 
brace the  safer  side  —  and  alter  my  opinions,  then  pray 
do  not  believe  me."  The  concluding  volume  of  Weiss's 
History  of  Jewish  Tradition l  shows  that  there  was  no 
need  for  our  author  to  warn  his  pupils  against  the  dan- 
gers accompanying  old  age.  For  though  Weiss  had,  when 
he  began  to  write  this  last  volume,  already  exceeded  his 
three-score  and  ten,  and,  as  we  read  in  the  preface,  had 
some  misgivings  as  to  whether  he  should  continue  his 
work,  there  is  no  trace  in  it  of  any  abatement  of  the 
great  powers  of  the  author.  It  is  marked  by  the  same 
freshness  in  diction,  the  same  marvellous  scholarship,  the 
same  display  of  astonishing  critical  powers,  and  the  same 
impartial  and  straightforward  way  of  judging  persons  and 
things,  for  which  the  preceding  volumes  were  so  much 
distinguished  and  admired. 

This  book,  which  is  recognised  as  a  standard  work 
abroad,  is,  I  fear,  owing  to  the  fact  of  its  being  written 
in  the  Hebrew  language,  not  sufficiently  known  in  this 
country.  Weiss  does  not  want  our  recognition ;  we  are 
rather  in  need  of  his  instruction.  Some  general  view 

182 


THE  HISTORY  OF  JEWISH   TRADITION  ^ 

of  his  estimate  of  Jewish  Tradition  may,  therefore,  be 
of  service  to  the  student.  It  is,  indeed,  the  only  work  of 
its  kind.  Zunz  has  confined  himself  to  the  history  of  the 
Agadah.  Graetz  gave  most  of  his  attention  to  the  politi- 
cal side  of  Jewish  history.  But  comparatively  little  has 
been  done  for  the  Halachah,  though  Frankel,  Geiger, 
Herzfeld,  and  others  have  treated  some  single  points 
in  various  monographs.  Thus  it  was  left  for  Weiss  to 
write  the  History  of  Tradition,  which  includes  both  the 
Agadah  and  the  Halachah.  The  treatment  of  this  latter 
must  have  proved,  in  consequence  of  the  intricate  and 
intractable  nature  of  its  materials,  by  far  the  more  diffi- 
cult portion  of  his  task. 

In  speaking  of  the  History  of  Tradition,  a  term  which 
suggests  the  fluctuating  character  of  a  thing,  its  origin, 
development,  progress,  and  retrogression,  we  have  already 
indicated  that  Weiss  does  not  consider  even  the  Halachah 
as  having  come  down  from  heaven,  ready-made,  and  defi- 
nitely fixed  for  all  time.  To  define  it  more  clearly,  Tradi- 
tion is,  apart  from  the  few  ordinances  and  certain  usages 
for  which  there  is  no  precedent  in  the  Bible,  the  history 
of  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  which  was  constantly 
liable  to  variation,  not  on  grounds  of  philology,  but 
through  the  subjective  notions  of  successive  generations 
regarding  religion  and  the  method  and  scope  of  its 
application. 

Weiss's  standpoint  with  reference  to  the  Pentateuch  is 
the  conservative  one,  maintaining  both  its  unity  and  its 
Mosaic  authorship.  Those  passages  and  accounts  in  the 
Bible  in  which  the  modern  critic  discerns  traces  of  dif- 
ferent traditional  sources,  are  for  Weiss  only  indicative 
of  the  various  stages  of  interpretation  through  which  the 


!84  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Pentateuch  had  to  pass.  The  earliest  stage  was  a  very 
crude  one,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  case  of  Jephthah's 
vow,  for  which  only  a  misinterpretation  of  certain  pas- 
sages in  the  Pentateuch  (Gen.  xxii.  2 ;  Num.  xxv.  4)  could 
be  made  responsible.  Nor  was  Jephthah,  who  felt  himself 
bound  to  carry  out  his  vow,  acquainted  with  the  provision 
for  dissolving  vows  2  that  was  sufficiently  familiar  to  later 
ages.  When,  on  the  other  hand,  Jeremiah  declared  sacri- 
fices to  be  altogether  superfluous,  and  said  that  God  did 
not  command  Israel,  when  he  brought  them  from  the 
land  of  Egypt,  concerning  burnt  offerings  or  sacrifices 
(vii.  22),  he  was  not  in  contradiction  with  Leviticus,  but 
interpreted  the  laws  contained  in  this  book  as  a  conces- 
sion to  popular  custom,  though  not  desirable  on  their 
own  account.  This  concession,  whenever  it  was  of  a 
harmless  nature,  the  prophets  carried  so  far  as  to  per- 
mit altars  outside  the  Tabernacle  or  Temple,  though 
this  was  against  the  plain  sense  of  Deuteronomy.  Elijah 
even  bewailed  their  destruction  (i  Kings  xix.  10).  He 
and  other  prophets  probably  interpreted  the  law  in  ques- 
tion as  directed  against  the  construction  and  maintenance 
of  several  chief  sanctuaries,  but  not  against  sacrificing  in 
different  places  on  minor  occasions.  This  is  evidently  a 
free  interpretation,  or  rather  application,  of  the  Law. 
Occasionally  the  conception  as  to  when  and  how  a  law 
should  be  applied  took  a  completely  negative  form.  In 
this  manner  is  to  be  explained  the  action  of  Solomon  in 
suspending  the  Fast  of  the  Day  of  Atonement  before 
the  festival  he  was  going  to  celebrate  in  honour  of  the 
consecration  of  the  Temple  (i  Kings  viii.  65),  the  king 
being  convinced  that  on  this  unique  occasion  the  latter 
was  of  more  religious  importance  than  the  former.  Weiss 


THE  HISTORY  OF  JEWISH  TRADITION  ^ 

thinks  that  the  later  custom  of  holding  public  dances  in 
the  vineyards  on  the  loth  of  Tishri  might  have  had  its 
origin  in  this  solemn,  but  also  joyful,  festival.  Ezekiel, 
again,  though  alluding  more  frequently  than  any  other 
prophet  to  the  laws  in  the  Pentateuch,  is  exceedingly 
bold  in  his  interpretation  of  them,  as,  for  instance,  when 
he  says  that  priests  shall  not  eat  anything  that  is  dead 
or  torn  (xliv.  31),  which  shows  that  he  took  the  verses 
in  Exod.  xxii.  30,  and  Deut.  xiv.  20,  to  have  been  meant 
only  as  a  good  advice  to  the  laymen  to  refrain  from  eat- 
ing these  unclean  things,  but  not  as  having  for  them  the 
force  of  a  real  commandment. 

Starting  from  this  proposition,  that  there  existed  always 
some  sort  of  interpretation  running  side  by  side  with  the 
recognised  Scriptures,  which  from  the  very  looseness  of 
its  connection  with  the  letter  of  the  Scripture  could  claim 
to  be  considered  a  thing  independent  in  itself,  and  might 
therefore  be  regarded  as  the  Oral  Law,  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  the  Written  Law,  the  author  passes  to  the  age  of 
the  Second  Temple,  the  period  to  which  the  rest  of  the 
first  volume  is  devoted.  In  these  pages  Weiss  reviews  the 
activity  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  the  ordinances  of  the  Men 
of  the  Great  Synagogue,  the  institutions  of  the  Scribes,  the 
Lives  of  the  so-called  Pairs,3  the  characteristics  of  the 
three  sects,  the  Sadducees,  Pharisees,  and  Essenes,  and 
the  differences  between  the  schools  of  Shammai  and  Hillel. 
To  each  of  these  subjects  Weiss  gives  his  fullest  attention, 
and  his  discussions  of  them  would  form  perfect  mono- 
graphs in  themselves.  To  reproduce  all  the  interesting 
matter  would  mean  to  translate  the  whole  of  this  portion 
of  his  work  into  English.  I  shall  only  draw  attention  to 
one  or  two  points. 


lS6  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

First,  this  liberal  interpretation  was  active  during  the 
whole  period  referred  to.  Otherwise  no  authority  could 
have  abolished  the  lex  talionis,  or  have  permitted  war  on 
Sabbath,  or  made  the  condition  that  no  crime  should  be 
punished  without  a  preceding  warning  (which  was  chiefly 
owing  to  the  aversion  of  the  Rabbis  to  the  infliction  of 
capital  punishment),  or  have  sanctioned  the  sacrificing  of 
the  Passover  when  the  I4th  of  Nisan  fell  on  Sabbath. 
Indeed  Shemaiah  and  Abtalyon,  in  whose  name  Hillel 
communicated  this  last  law,  were  called  the  Great  Inter- 
preters.4 

Secondly,  as  to  the  so-called  laws  given  to  Moses  on 
Sinai.5  Much  has  been  said  about  these.  The  distinction 
claimed  for  them  by  some  scholars,  viz.  that  they  were 
never  contested,  is  not  tenable,  considering  that  there  pre- 
vailed much  difference  of  opinion  about  some  of  them. 
Nor  is  the  theory  that  they  were  ancient  religious  usages, 
dating  from  time  immemorial,  entirely  satisfactory.  For 
though  the  fact  may  be  true  in  itself,  this  could  not  have 
justified  the  Rabbis  in  calling  them  all  Sinaitic  laws,  espe- 
cially when  they  were  aware  that  not  a  few  of  them  were 
contested  by  certain  of  their  colleagues,  a  thing  that  would 
have  been  quite  impossible  if  they  had  a  genuine  claim  to 
Mosaic  authority.  But  if  we  understand  Weiss  rightly 
these  laws  are  only  to  be  considered  as  a  specimen  of  the 
whole  of  the  Oral  Law,  which  was  believed  to  emanate, 
both  in  its  institutional  and  in  its  expository  part,  from  the 
same  authority.  The  conviction  was  firmly  held  that 
everything  wise  and  good,  be  it  ethical  or  ceremonial  in 
its  character,  whose  effect  would  be  to  strengthen  the 
cause  of  religion,  was  at  least  potentially  contained  in  the 
Torah,  and  that  it  only  required  an  earnest  religious  mind 


THE  HISTORY  OF  JEWISH  TRADITION  ^7 

to  find  it  there.  Hence  the  famous  adage  that  "everything 
which  any  student  will  teach  at  any  future  time  was  already 
communicated  to  Moses  on  M.ount  Sinai "  ;  or  the  injunc- 
tion that  any  acceptable  truth,  even  if  discovered  by  an 
insignificant  man  in  Israel,  should  be  considered  as  having 
the  authority  of  a  great  sage  or  prophet,  or  even  of  Moses 
himself.  The  principle  was  that  the  words  of  the  Torah 
are  "fruitful  and  multiply." 

It  will  probably  be  said  that  the  laws  of  clean  and  un- 
clean, and  such  like,  have  proved  rather  too  prolific  ;  but 
if  we  read  Weiss  carefully,  we  shall  be  reminded  that  it 
was  by  the  same  process  of  propagation  that  the  Rabbis 
developed  from  Deut.  xxii.  8,  a  whole  code  of  sanitary  and 
police-laws  which  could  even  now  be  studied  with  profit ; 
from  the  few  scanty  civil  laws  in  Exod.  xxi.,  a  whole  corpus 
juris,  which  might  well  excite  the  interest  and  the  admira- 
tion of  any  lawyer ;  and  from  the  words  "  And  thou  shalt 
teach  them  diligently  unto  thy  children,"  a  complete  school- 
system  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  the  rtsumt  of  a 
liturgy  that  appears  to  have  sufficed  for  the  spiritual  needs 
of  more  than  fifty  generations  of  Israelites. 

Before  we  pass  to  the  age  of  the  Tannaim,6  the  subject 
of  Weiss' s  second  volume,  we  must  take  account  of  two 
important  events  which  have  greatly  influenced  the  further 
development  of  Tradition.  I  refer  to  the  destruction  of 
the  Temple  and  the  rise  of  Christianity.  With  the  former 
event  Judaism  ceased  to  be  a  political  commonwealth,  and 
if  "  the  nation  was  .already  in  the  times  of  Ezra  converted 
into  a  church,"  —an  assertion,  by  the  way,  which  has  not 
the  least  basis  in  fact,  —  it  became  the  more  so  after  it  had 
lost  the  last  remains  of  its  independence.  But  it  was  a 
church  without  priests,  or,  since  such  a  thing,  as  far  as 


X88  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

history  teaches  us,  has  never  existed,  let  us  rather  call  it  a 
Synagogue. 

From  this  fact  diverse  results  flowed.  A  Synagogue 
can  exist  not  only  without  priests,  but  also  without  sacri- 
fices, for  which  prayer  and  charity  were  a  sufficient  substi- 
tute. With  the  progress  of  time  also  many  agricultural 
laws,  as  well  as  others  relating  to  sacerdotal  purity, 
gradually  became  obsolete,  though  they  lingered  on  for 
some  generations,  and,  as  a  venerable  reminiscence  of  a 
glorious  time,  entered  largely  into  Jewish  literature.  This 
disappearance  of  so  many  laws  and  the  weakening  of  the 
national  element,  however,  required,  if  Judaism  was  to  con- 
tinue to  exist,  the  strengthening  of  religion  from  another 
side.  The  first  thing  needed  was  the  creation  of  a  new 
religious  centre  which  would  not  only  replace  the  Temple 
to  a  certain  degree,  but  also  bring  about  a  greater  solidar- 
ity of  views,  such  as  would  render  impossible  the  ancient 
differences  that  divided  the  schools  of  Hillel  and  Shammai. 
The  creator  of  this  centre  was  R.  Johanan  ben  Zaccai, 
who  founded  the  school  of  Jamnia,  and  invested  it  with 
the  same  authority  and  importance  as  the  Sanhedrin  had 
enjoyed  during  Temple  times.  The  consciousness  that 
they  were  standing  before  a  new  starting-point  in  history, 
with  a  large  religious  inheritance  from  the  past,  actuated 
them  not  only  to  collect  the  old  traditional  laws  and  to 
take  stock  of  their  religious  institutions,  but  also  to  give 
them  more  definite  shape  and  greater  stability.  As  many 
of  these  traditions  were  by  no  means  undisputed,  the  best 
thing  was  to  bring  them  under  one  or  other  heading  of 
the  Scriptures.  This  desire  gave  the  impulse  to  the  famous 
hermeneutic  schools  of  R.  Akiba  and  R.  Ishmael. 

The  next  cause  that  contributed  to  give  a  more  deter- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  JEWISH  TRADITION  igy 

minate  expression  to  the  Law  was  the  rise  of  Christianity. 
This  is  not  the  place  to  give  an  account  of  the  views  which 
the  Rabbis  entertained  of  Christianity.  Suffice  it  to  say 
they  could  not  see  in  the  destruction  of  the  Law  its  ful- 
filment. They  also  thought  that  under  certain  conditions 
it  is  not  only  the  letter  that  killeth,  but  also  the  spirit,  or 
rather  that  the  spirit  may  sometimes  be  clothed  in  a  letter, 
which,  in  its  turn,  will  slay  more  victims  than  the  letter 
against  which  the  loudest  denunciations  have  been  levelled. 
Spirit  without  letter,  let  theologians  say  what  they  will,  is 
a  mere  phantasm.  However,  the  new  sect  made  claims  to 
the  gift  of  prophecy,  which,  as  they  thought,  placed  them 
above  the  Law.  It  would  seem  that  this  was  a  time  of 
special  excitement.  The  student  of  the  Talmud  finds  that 
such  marvels  as  predicting  the  future,  reviving  the  dead, 
casting  out  demons,  crossing  rivers  dry-shod,  curing  the 
sick  by  a  touch  or  prayer,  were  the  order  of  the  day,  and 
performed  by  scores  of  Rabbis.  Voices  from  heaven  were 
often  heard,  and  strange  visions  were  frequently  beheld. 
Napoleon  I.  is  said  to  have  forbidden  the  holy  coat  of 
Treves  to  work  miracles.  The  Jewish  legislature,  how- 
ever, had  no  means  of  preventing  these  supernatural 
workings  ;  but  when  the  Rabbis  saw  their  dangerous  con- 
sequences, they  insisted  that  miracles  should  have  no  in- 
fluence on  the  interpretation  and  development  of  the  Law. 
Hence  the  saying  with  regard  to  Lev.  xxvii.  34,  that  no 
prophet  is  authorised  to  add  a  new  law.  And  when  R. 
Eliezer  b.  Hyrkanos  (about  120  A.C.)  thought  to  prove  the 
justice  of  his  case  by  the  intervention  of  miracles,  the 
majority  answered  that  the  fact  of  this  or  that  variation, 
effected  at  his  bidding,  in  the  established  order  of  nature, 
proved  nothing  for  the  soundness  of  his  argument.  Nay, 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

they  even  ignored  the  Bath-Rot1  (the  celestial  voice), 
which  declared  itself  in  favour  of  R,  Eliezer,  maintaining 
that  the  Torah  having  once  been  given  to  mankind,  it  is 
only  the  opinion  of  the  majority  that  should  decide  on  its 
interpretation  and  application.  Very  characteristic  is  the 
legend  connected  with  this  fact.  When  one  of  the  Rabbis 
afterwards  met  Elijah  and  asked  him  what  they  thought 
in  heaven  of  the  audacity  of  his  colleagues,  the  prophet 
answered,  "  God  rejoiced  and  said,  my  children  have  con- 
quered me." 

Into  such  discredit  did  miracles  fall  at  that  period,  whilst 
the  opinion  of  the  interpreting  body,  or  the  Sanhedrin,  be- 
came more  powerful  than  ever.  These  were  merely  dog- 
matical consequences.  But  new  laws  were  enacted  and 
old  ones  revived,  with  the  object  of  resisting  Christian  in- 
fluences over  the  Jews.  To  expand  the  Oral  Law,  and 
give  it  a  firm  basis  in  the  Scriptures,  were  considered  the 
best  means  of  preserving  Judaism  intact.  "  Moses  de- 
sired," an  old  legend  narrates,  "that  the  Mishnah  also 
(that  is  Tradition)  should  be  written  down;"  but  foresee- 
ing the  time  when  the  nations  of  the  world  would  translate 
the  Torah  into  Greek,  and  would  assert  their  title  to  rank 
as  the  Children  of  God,  the  Lord  refused  to  permit  tra- 
dition to  be  recorded  otherwise  than  by  word  of  mouth. 
The  claim  of  the  Gentiles  might  then  be  refuted  by  ask- 
ing them  whether  they  were  also  in  possession  of  "the 
Mystery."  The  Rabbis  therefore  concentrated  their  at- 
tention upon  "the  Mystery,"  and  this  contributed  largely 
towards  making  the  expository  methods  of  R.  Akiba  and  R. 
Ishmael,  to  which  I  have  above  referred,  the  main  object 
of  their  study  in  the  schools. 

It  would,  however,  be  a  mistake  to  think  that  the  San- 


THE  HISTORY   OF  JEWISH  TRADITION  I9I 

hedrin  now  spent  their  powers  in  "  enforcing  retrograde 
measures  and  creating  a  strange  exegesis/'  I  especially 
advise  the  student  to  read  carefully  that  admirable  chap- 
ter (VII.,  of  Vol.  II.)  in  which  Weiss  classifies  all  the  Or- 
dinances, "  Fences,"  Decrees,  and  Institutions,  dating  both 
from  this  and  from  earlier  ages,  under  ten  headings,  and 
also  shows  their  underlying  principles.  The  main  object 
was  to  preserve  the  Jewish  religion  by  strengthening  the 
principle  of  Jewish  nationality,  and  to  preserve  the  nation- 
ality by  the  aid  of  religion.  But  sometimes  the  Rabbis 
also  considered  it  necessary  to  preserve  religion  against 
itself,  so  to  speak,  or,  as  they  expressed  it,  "  When  there 
is  time  to  work  for  the  Lord,  they  make  void  thy  Torah." 
This  authorised  the  Beth  Din 8  to  act  in  certain  cases 
against  the  letter  of  the  Torah.  "  The  welfare  of  the 
World"  was  another' great  consideration.  By  " World" 
they  understood  both  the  religious  and  the  secular  world. 
From  a  regard  to  the  former  resulted  such  "  Fences  "  and 
Ordinances  as  were  directed  against  "  the  transgressors," 
as  well  as  the  general  injunction  to  "  keep  aloof  from  what 
is  morally  unseemly,  and  from  whatever  bears  any  like- 
ness thereto."  In  the  interests  of  the  latter  —  the  welfare 
of  the  secular  world  —  they  enacted  such  laws  as  either 
tended  to  elevate  the  position  of  women,  or  to  promote 
the  peace  and  welfare  of  members  of  their  own  commu- 
nity, or  to  improve  the  relations  between  Jews  and  their 
Gentile  neighbours.  They  also  held  the  great  principle 
that  nothing  is  so  injurious  to  the  cause  of  religion  as 
increasing  the  number  of  sinners  by  needless  severity. 
Hence  the  introduction  of  many  laws  "  for  the  benefit  of 
penitents,"  and  the  maxim  not  to  issue  any  decree  which 
may  prove  too  heavy  a  burden  to  the  majority  of  the  com- 


!Q2  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

munity.  The  relaxation  of  certain  traditional  laws  was  also 
permitted  when  they  involved  a  serious  loss  of  property,  or 
the  sacrifice  of  a  man's  dignity.  Some  old  decrees  were 
even  permitted  to  fall  into  oblivion  when  public  opinion 
was  too  strong  against  them,  the  Rabbis  holding  that  it 
was  often  better  for  Israelites  to  be  unconscious  sinners 
than  wilful  transgressors.  The  Minhagy  or  religious  cus- 
tom, also  .played  an  important  part,  it  being  assumed  that 
it  must  have  been  first  introduced  by  some  eminent  au- 
thority ;  but,  if  there  was  reason  to  believe  that  the  custom 
owed  its  origin  to  some  fancy  of  the  populace,  and  that  it 
had  a  pernicious  effect  on  the  multitude,  no  compunction 
was  felt  in  abolishing  it. 

Very  important  it  is  to  note  that  the  Oral  Law  had  not 
at  this  period  assumed  a  character  of  such  rigidity  that  all 
its  ordinances,  etc.,  had  to  be  looked  upon  as  irremovable 
for  all  times.  With  those  who  think  otherwise,  a  favourite 
quotation  is  the  administratory  measure  laid  dawn  in  Trac- 
tate Evidences?  I.  5,  where  we  read  that  no  Beth  Din  has 
the  right  of  annulling  the  dicta  of  another  Beth  Din,  unless 
it  is  stronger  in  numbers  (having  a  larger  majority)  and 
greater  in  wisdom  than  its  fellow  tribunal.  Confess  with 
becoming  modesty  that  the  world  is  always  going  downhill, 
decreasing  both  in  numbers  and  in  wisdom,  and  the  result 
follows  that  any  decision  by  the  earlier  Rabbis  is  fixed  law 
for  all  eternity.  Weiss  refutes  such  an  idea  not  only  as 
inconsistent  with  the  nature  of  Tradition,  but  also  as  con- 
tradictory to  the  facts.  He  proves  by  numerous  instances 
that  the  Rabbis  did  abolish  ordinances  and  decrees  intro- 
duced by  preceding  authorities,  and  that  the  whole  concep- 
tion is  based  on  a  misunderstanding.  For  the  rule  in 
question,  as  Weiss  clearly  points  out,  originally  only  meant 


THE  HISTORY  OF  JEWISH   TRADITION  ^3 

that  a  Beth  Din  has  no  right  to  undo  the  decrees  of 
another  contemporary  Beth  Din,  unless  it  was  justified  in 
doing  so  by  the  weight  of  its  greater  authority.  This  was 
necessary  if  a  central  authority  was  to  exist  at  all.  Weiss 
is  indeed  of  opinion  that  the  whole  passage  is  a  later  inter- 
polation from  the  age  of  R.  Simeon  b.  Gamaliel  II.,  when 
certain  Rabbis  tried  to  emancipate  themselves  from  the 
authority  of  the  Patriarch.  But  it  was  not  meant  that  the 
decision  of  a  Beth  Din  should  have  perpetual  binding 
power  for  all  posterity.  This  was  left  to  the  discretion  of 
the  legislature  of  each  generation,  who  had  to  examine 
whether  the  original  cause  for  maintaining  such  decision 
still  existed. 

The  rest  of  this  volume  is  for  the  greater  part  taken  up 
with  complete  monographs  of  the  Patriarchs  and  the  heads 
of  the  schools  of  that  age,  whilst  the  concluding  chapters 
give  us  the  history  of  the  literature,  the  Midrash,  Mechilta, 
Siphra,  Siphre,  Mishnah,  etc.,  which  contain  both  the 
Halachic  and  the  Agadic  sayings  emanating  from  these 
authorities. 

With  regard  to  these  Patriarchs,  I  should  like  only  to 
remark  that  Weiss  defends  them  against  the  charge  made 
by  Schorr  and  others,  who  accuse  them  of  having  assumed 
too  much  authority  on  account  of  their  noble  descent,  and 
who  describe  their  opponents  as  the  true  friends  of  the 
people.  Weiss  is  no  lover  of  such  specious  phrases.  The 
qualifications  required  for  the  leadership  of  the  people 
were  a  right  instinct  for  the  necessities  of  their  time,  a  fair 
amount  of  secular  knowledge,  and,  what  is  of  chief  impor- 
tance, an  unbounded  love  and  devotion  to  those  over  whose 
interests  they  were  called  to  watch.  These  distinctions,  as 
Weiss  proves,  the  descendants  of  Hillel  possessed  in  the 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

highest  degree.  It  is  true  that  occasionally,  as  for  instance 
in  the  famous  controversy  of  R.  Gamaliel  II.  with  R. 
Joshua  b.  Hananiah,  or  that  of  R.  Simeon  b.  Gamaliel  II. 
with  R.  Nathan  and  R.  Meir,  they  made  their  authority 
too  heavily  felt ; 10  but  this  was  again  another  necessity  of 
those  troubled  times,  when  only  real  unity  could  save 
Israel. 

However,  Weiss  is  no  partisan,  and  the  love  he  lavishes 
on  his  favourite  heroes  does  not  exhaust  his  resources  of 
sympathy  and  appreciation  for  members  of  the  other 
schools.  Weiss  is  no  apologist  either,  and  does  not  make 
the  slightest  attempt  towards  explaining  away  even  the 
defects  of  R.  Akiba  in  his  somewhat  arbitrary  method  of 
interpretation,  which  our  author  thinks  much  inferior  to 
the  expository  rules  of  R.  Ishmael ;  but  this  does  not  pre- 
vent him  from  admiring  his  excellences. 

Altogether  it  would  seem  that  Weiss  thinks  R.  Akiba 
more  happy  in  his  quality  as  a  great  saint  than  in  that  of 
a  great  exegete.  What  is  most  admirable  is  the  instinct 
with  which  Weiss  understands  how  to  emphasise  the  right 
thing  in  its  right  place.  As  an  indication  of  the  literary 
honesty  and  marvellous  industry  of  our  author,  I  would 
draw  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  sketch  of  R.  Akiba 
and  his  school  alone  is  based  on  more  than  two  thousand 
quotations  scattered  over  the  whole  area  of  the  Rabbinic 
literature ;  but  he  points  in  a  special  note  to  a  sentence 
attributed  to  R.  Akiba,  which  presents  the  whole  man 
and  his  generation  in  a  single  stroke.  I  refer  to  that  pas- 
sage in  Tractate  Joys,11  in  which  R.  Akiba  speaks  of  the 
four  types  of  sufferers.  He  draws  the  comparison  of  a 
king  chastising  his  children ;  the  first  son  maintains  stub- 
born silence,  the  second  simply  rebels,  the  third  suppli- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  JEWISH   TRADITION  ig$ 

cates  for  mercy,  and  the  fourth  (the  best  of  sons)  says : 
"  Father,  proceed  with  thy  chastisement,  as  David  said, 
Wash  me  thoroughly  from  mine  iniquity  and  cleanse  me 
from  my  sin "  (Ps.  li.  4).  This  absolute  submission  to 
the  will  of  God,  which  perceives  in  suffering  only  an  ex- 
pression of  His  fatherly  love  and  mercy,  was  the  ideal  of 
R.  Akiba. 

The  great  literary  production  of  this  period  was  the 
Mishnah,  which,  through  the  high  authority  of  its  com- 
piler, R.  Judah  the  Patriarch,  his  saintliness  and  popu- 
larity, soon  superseded  all  the  collections  of  a  similar 
kind,  and  became  the  official  text-book  of  the  Oral  Law. 
But  a  text  requires  interpretation,  whilst  other  collections 
also  demanded  some  attention.  This  brings  us  to  the  two 
Talmuds,  namely,  the  Talmud  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Tal- 
mud of  Babylon,  the  origin  and  history  of  which  form 
the  subject  of  Weiss' s  third  volume. 

Here  again  the  first  chapters  are  more  of  a  preliminary 
character,  giving  the  student  some  insight  into  the  laby- 
rinth of  the  Talmud.  The  two  chapters  entitled  "The 
instruments  employed  in  erecting  the  great  Edifice,"  and 
the  "Workmanship  displayed  by  the  Builders,"  give  evi- 
dence of  almost  unrivalled  familiarity  with  the  Rabbinical 
literature,  and  of  critical  powers  of  the  rarest  kind.  Now 
these  instruments  were  by  no  means  new,  for,  as  Weiss 
shows,  the  Amoraim  employed  in  interpreting  the  Mish- 
nah the  same  explanatory  rules  that  are  known  to  us 
from  the  School  of  R.  Ishmael  as  "the  Thirteen  Rules 
by  which  the  Torah  is  explained,"  though  they  appear 
in  the  Talmud  under  other  names,  and  are  in  reality  only 
a  species  of  Midrash.  Besides  this  there  comes  another 
element  into  play.  It  was  the  exaggerated  awe  of  all 


I96  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

earlier  authorities  that  endeavoured  to  reconcile  the  most 
contradictory  statements  by  means  of  a  subtle  dialectic 
for  which  the  schools  in  Babylon  were  especially  famous. 
There  were  certainly  many  opponents  of  this  system,  and 
from  the  monographs  which  Weiss  gives  on  the  various 
heads  of  the  western  and  eastern  schools  we  see  that  not 
all  followed  this  method,  and  some  among  them  even  con- 
demned it  in  the  strongest  words.  However,  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  there  is  a  strong  scholastic  feature  in  the  Tal- 
mud, which  is  very  far  from  what  we  should  look  for  in 
a  trustworthy  exegesis.  Thus  we  must  not  always  ex- 
pect to  find  in  the  Talmud  the  true  meaning  of  the  say- 
ings of  their  predecessors,  and  it  is  certain  that  a  more 
scientific  method  in  many  cases  has  led  to  results  the 
very  opposite  of  those  at  which  the  later  Rabbis  have 
arrived.  This  fact  was  already  recognised  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  though  only  in  part,  by  R.  Yom-Tob 
Heller  and  others.  Only  he  insisted  that  in  this  matter 
a  line  must  be  drawn  between  theory  and  practice.  But 
Weiss  gives  irrefragable  proofs  that  even  this  line  was 
often  overstepped  by  the  greatest  authorities,  though  they 
remained  always  within  the  limits  of  Tradition.  Indeed, 
as  Weiss  points  out,  not  every  saying  to  be  found  in  the 
Talmud  is  to  be  looked  upon  as  representing  Tradition ; 
for  there  is  much  in  it  which  only  gives  the  individual 
opinion  or  is  merely  an  interpolation  of  later  hands ;  nor 
does  the  Talmud  contain  the  whole  of  Tradition,  this 
latter  proceeding  and  advancing  with  the  time,  and  cor- 
responding to  its  conditions  and  notions.  As  we  read 
Weiss,  the  conviction  is  borne  in  upon  us  that  there  was 
a  Talmud  before,  and  another  after  The  Talmud. 

Much  space  in  this  volume  is  given  to  the  Agadah  and 


THE  HISTORY  OF  JEWISH   TRADITION 

the  so-called  "Teachers  of  the  Agadah."  Weiss  makes 
no  attempt  at  apology  for  that  which  seems  to  us  strange, 
or  even  repugnant  in  this  part  of  the  Rabbinic  literature. 
The  greatest  fault  to  be  found  with  those  who  wrote  down 
such  passages  as  appear  objectionable  to  us  is,  perhaps, 
that  they  did  not  observe  the  wise  rule  of  Johnson,  who 
said  to  Boswell  on  a  certain  occasion,  "  Let  us  get  serious, 
for  there  comes  a  fool."  And  the  fools  unfortunately 
did  come  in  the  shape  of  certain  Jewish  commentators 
and  Christian  controversialists,  who  took  as  serious  things 
which  were  only  the  expression  of  a  momentary  impulse, 
or  represented  the  opinion  of  some  isolated  individual,  or 
were  meant  simply  as  a  piece  of  humorous  by-play,  calcu- 
lated to  enliven  the  interest  of  a  languid  audience.  But 
on  the  other  hand,  as  Weiss  proves,  the  Agadah  contains 
also  many  elements  of  real  edification  and  eternal  truths 
as  well  as  abundant  material  for  building  up  the  edifice 
of  dogmatic  Judaism.  Talmudical  quotations  of  such  a 
nature  are  scattered  by  thousands  over  Weiss's  work,  par- 
ticularly in  those  chapters  in  which  he  describes  the  lives 
of  the  greatest  Rabbinical  heroes.  But  the  author  lays  the 
student  under  special  obligations  by  putting  together  in 
the  concluding  pages  of  this  volume  some  of  these  sen- 
tences, and  classifying  them  under  various  headings.  I  give 
here  a  few  extracts.  For  the  references  to  authorities  I 
must  direct  the  reader  to  the  original :  — 

"  The  unity  of  God  is  the  keystone  of  dogmatic  Judaism. 
The  Rabbis  give  Israel  the  credit  of  having  proclaimed  to 
the  world  the  unity  of  God.  They  also  say  that  Israel 
took  an  oath  never  to  change  Him  for  another  God.  This 
only  God  is  eternal,  incorporeal,  and  immutable.  And 
though  the  prophets  saw  Him  in  different  aspects,  He 


198  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

warned  them  that  they  must  not  infer  from  the  visions 
vouchsafed  to  them  that  there  are  different  Gods.  'I 
am  the  first,'  He  tells  them,  which  implies  that  he  had  no 
father,  and  the  words,  '  There  is  no  God  besides  me/  mean 
that  he  has  no  son.  Now,  this  God,  the  God  of  Israel,  is 
holy  in  every  thinkable  way  of  holiness.  He  is  merciful 
and  gracious,  as  it  is  said,  '  And  I  will  be  gracious  to  whom 
I  will  be  gracious,'  even  though  he  who  is  the  recipient  of 
God's  grace  has  no  merit  of  his  own.  '  And  I  will  show 
mercy  to  whom  I  will  show  mercy,'  that  is,  even  to  those 
who  do  not  deserve  it.  His  attributes  are  righteousness, 
loving-kindness,  and  truth.  God  speaks  words  of  eternal 
truth,  even  as  He  himself  is  the  eternal  life.  All  that  the 
Merciful  One  does  is  only  for  good,  and  even  in  the  time 
of  His  anger  He  remembers  His  graciousness,  and  often 
suppresses  His  attribute  of  judgment  before  His  attri- 
bute of  mercy.  But  with  the  righteous  God  is  more 
severe  than  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  when  His  hand 
falls  in  chastening  on  His  saints  His  name  becomes  awful, 
revered,  and  exalted.  This  God  of  Israel,  again,  extends 
His  providence  over  all  mankind,  and  especially  over  Israel. 
By  His  eye  everything  is  foreseen,  yet  freedom  of  choice 
is  given,  and  the  world  is  judged  by  grace,  yet  all  accord- 
ing to  the  works  wrought.  Hence,  know  what  is  above 
thee,  a  seeing  eye  and  a  hearing  ear,  and  that  all  thy  deeds 
are  written  in  a  book. 

"  They  [the  Rabbis]  believed  that  God  created  the  world 
out  of  nothing,  without  toil  and  without  weariness.  This 
world  was  created  by  the  combination  of  His  two  attri- 
butes, mercy  and  justice.  He  rejoices  in  His  creation,  and 
if  the  Maker  praises  it,  who  dares  to  blame  it  ?  And  if 
He  exults  in  it,  who  shall  find  a  blemish  in  it  ?  Nay,  it  is 


THE  HISTORY   OF  JEWISH   TRADITION 

a  glorious  and  a  beautiful  world.  It  is  created  for  man, 
and  its  other  denizens  were  all  meant  but  to  serve  him. 
Though  all  mankind  are  formed  after  the  type  of  Adam,  no 
one  is  like  his  fellow-man  (each  one  having  an  individuality 
of  his  own).  Thus  he  is  able  to  say,  '  For  my  sake,  also, 
was  the  world  created  ' ;  and  with  this  thought  his  respon- 
sibilities increase.  But  the  greatest  love  shown  to  man  is 
that  he  was  created  in  the  image  of  God.  Man  is  a  being 
possessed  of  free  will,  and,  though  everything  is  given  on 
pledge,  whosoever  wishes  to  borrow  may  come  and  borrow. 
Everything  is  in  the  gift  of  Heaven  except  the  fear  of 
God.  In  man's  heart  abide  both  the  evil  inclination  and 
the  good  inclination ;  and  the  words  of  Scripture,  '  Thou 
shalt  not  bow  down  before  a  strange  god,'  point  to  the 
strange  god  who  is  within  man  himself,  who  entices  him 
to  sin  in  this  world,  and  gives  evidence  against  him  in 
the  next.  But  the  Holy  One  —  blessed  be  He  !  —  said,  '  I 
have  created  the  evil  inclination,  but  I  have  also  created 
its  antidote,  the  Torah.'  And  when  man  is  occupied  with 
the  Torah  and  in  works  of  charity,  he  becomes  the  master 
of  the  evil  inclination ;  otherwise,  he  is  its  slave.  When 
man  reflects  the  image  of  God,  he  is  the  lord  of  creation, 
and  is  feared  by  all  creatures ;  but  this  image  is  defaced 
by  sin,  and  then  he  has  no  power  over  the  universe,  and  is 
in  fear  of  all  things. 

"  Another  principle  of  Judaism  is  the  belief  in  reward 
and  punishment.  '  I  am  the  Lord,  your  God,'  means, 
'it  is  I  who  am  prepared  to  recompense  you  for  your 
good  actions,  and  to  bring  retribution  upon  you  for  your 
evil  deeds.'  God  does  not  allow  to  pass  unrewarded  even 
the  merit  of  a  kind  and  considerate  word.  By  the  same 
measure  which  man  metes  out,  it  shall  be  meted  out  to 


200  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

him.  Because  thou  drownedst  others,  they  have  drowned 
thee,  and  at  the  last  they  who  drowned  thee  shall  them- 
selves be  drowned.  Though  it  is  not  in  our  power  to 
explain  either  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked  or  the  affliction 
of  the  righteous,  nevertheless  know  before  whom  thou 
toilest,  and  who  thy  employer  is,  who  will  pay  thee  the 
reward  of  thy  labour.  Here  at  thy  door  is  a  poor  man 
standing,  and  at  his  right  hand  standeth  God.  If  thou 
grantest  his  request,  be  certain  of  thy  reward ;  but  if 
thou  refusest,  think  of  him  who  is  by  the  side  of  the 
poor,  and  will  avenge  it  on  thee.  '  God  seeketh  the 
persecuted '  to  defend  him,  even  though  it  be  the  wicked 
who  is  persecuted  by  the  righteous.  The  soul  of  man 
is  immortal,  the  souls  of  the  righteous  being  treasured 
up  under  the  throne  of  God.  Know  that  everything  is 
according  to  the  reckoning,  and  let  not  thy  imagination 
give  thee  hope  that  the  grave  will  be  a  place  of  refuge 
for  thee,  for  perforce  thou  wast  formed,  and  perforce  thou 
wast  born,  and  thou  livest  perforce,  and  perforce  thou  wilt 
die,  and  perforce  thou  wilt  in  the  future  have  to  give 
account  and  reckoning  before  the  Supreme  King  of  kings, 
the  Holy  One,  blessed  be  He. 

"The  advent  of  the  Messiah  is  another  article  of  the 
belief  of  the  Rabbis.  But  if  a  man  tell  thee  that  he 
knows  when  the  redemption  of  Israel  will  take  place, 
believe  him  not,  for  this  is  one  of  the  unrevealed  secrets 
of  the  Almighty.  The  mission  of  Elijah  is  to  bring  peace 
into  the  world,  while  the  Messiah,  in  whose  days  Israel 
will  regain  his  national  independence,  will  lead  the  whole 
world  in  repentance  to  God.  On  this,  it  is  believed,  will 
follow  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

"  Another  main  principle  in  the  belief  of  the   Rabbis 


THE  HISTORY  OF  JEWISH   TRADITION  2OI 

is  the  election  of  Israel,  which  imposes  on  them  special 
duties,  and  gives  them  a  peculiar  mission.  Beloved  are 
Israel,  for  they  are  called  the  children  of  God,  and  His 
firstborn.  '  They  shall  endure  for  ever '  through  the  merit 
of  their  fathers.  There  is  an  especial  covenant  established 
between  God  and  the  tribes  of  Israel.  God  is  their  father, 
and  He  said  to  them,  My  children,  even  as  I  have  no 
contact  with  the  profanity  of  the  world,  so  also  withdraw 
yourselves  from  it.  And  as  I  am  holy,  be  ye  also  holy. 
Nay,  sanctify  thyself  by  refraining  even  from  that  which  is 
not  forbidden  thee.  There  is  no  holiness  without  chastity. 

"  The  main  duty  of  Israel  is  to  sanctify  the  name  of  God, 
for  the  Torah  was  only  given  that  His  great  name  might 
be  glorified.  Better  is  it  that  a  single  letter  of  the  law 
be  cast  out  than  that  the  name  of  Heaven  be  profaned. 
And  this  also  is  the  mission  of  Israel  in  this  world :  to 
sanctify  the  name  of  God,  as  it  is  written,  '  This  people 
have  I  formed  for  myself,  that  they  may  show  forth  my 
praise.'  Or,  'And  thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God,' 
which  means,  Thou  shalt  make  God  beloved  by  all  creat- 
ures, even  as  Abraham  did.  Israel  is  the  light  of  the 
world ;  as  it  is  said,  '  And  nations  shall  walk  by  thy  light.' 
But  he  who  profanes  the  name  of  Heaven  in  secret  will 
suffer  the  penalty  thereof  in  public ;  and  this  whether  the 
Heavenly  Name  be  profaned  in  ignorance  or  in  wilfulness. 

"  Another  duty  towards  God  is  to  love  Him  and  to  fear 
Him.  God's  only  representative  on  earth  is  the  God-fear- 
ing man.  Woe  unto  those  who  are  occupied  in  the  study 
of  the  Torah,  but  who  have  no  fear  of  God.  But  a  still 
higher  duty  it  is  to  perform  the  commandments  of  God 
from  love.  For  greater  is  he  who  submits  to  the  will  of 
God  from  love  than  he  who  does  so  from  fear, 


202  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

"  Now,  how  shall  man  love  God  ?  This  is  answered  in 
the  words  of  Scripture,  '  And  these  words  shall  be  upon 
thy  heart.'  For  by  them  thou  wilt  recognise  Him 
whose  word  called  the  world  into  existence,  and  follow 
His  divine  attributes. 

"  God  is  righteous ;  be  ye  also  righteous,  O  Israel. 
By  righteousness  the  Rabbis  understand  love  of  truth, 
hatred  of  lying  and  backbiting.  The  seal  of  the  Holy 
One,  blessed  be  He,  is  Truth,  of  which  the  actions  of  man 
should  also  bear  the  impress.  Hence,  let  thy  yea  be 
yea,  and  thy  nay,  nay.  He  who  is  honest  in  money  trans- 
actions, unto  him  this  is  reckoned  as  if  he  had  fulfilled 
the  whole  of  the  Torah.  Greater  is  he  who  earns  his  liveli- 
hood by  the  labour  of  his  hands  than  even  the  God-fearing 
man  ;  whilst  the  righteous  judge  is,  as  it  were,  the  compan- 
ion of  God  in  the  government  of  the  world.  For  upon 
three  things  the  world  stands :  upon  truth,  upon  judg- 
ment, upon  peace ;  as  it  is  said,  '  Judge  ye  the  truth  and 
the  judgment  of  peace  in  your  gates.'  But  he  who  breaks 
his  word,  his  sin  is  as  great  as  if  he  worshipped  idols ; 
and  God,  who  punished  the  people  of  the  time  of  the  Flood, 
will  also  punish  him  who  does  not  stand  by  his  word. 
Such  a  one  belongs  to  one  of  the  four  classes  who  are 
not  admitted  into  the  presence  of  the  Shechinah ;  these 
are  the  scoffers,  the  hypocrites  (who  bring  the  wrath  of 
God  into  the  world),  the  liars,  and  the  slanderers.  The 
sin  of  the  slanderer  is  like  that  of  one  who  would  deny 
the  root  (the  root  of  all  religion,  i.e.  the  existence  of  God). 
The  greatest  of  liars,  however,  is  he  who  perjures  himself, 
which  also  involves  the  sin  of  profanation  of  the  name  of 
God.  The  hypocrite,  who  insinuates  himself  into  people's 
good  opinions,  who  wears  his  phylacteries  and  is  en- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  JEWISH   TRADITION  203 

wrapped  in  his  gown  with  the  fringes,  and  secretly  com- 
mits sins,  equally  transgresses  the  command,  '  Thou  shalt 
not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain.' 

"  God  is  gracious  and  merciful ;  therefore  man  also 
should  be  gracious  and  merciful.  Hence,  *  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself,'  which  is  a  main  principle 
in  the  Torah.  What  is  unpleasant  to  thyself,  do  not  unto 
thy  neighbour.  This  is  the  whole  Torah,  to  which  the 
rest  is  only  to  be  considered  as  a  commentary.  And  this 
love  is  also  extended  to  the  stranger,  for  as  it  is  said  with 
regard  to  Israel,  'And  thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself,'  so  is  it  also  said,  '  And  thou  shalt  love  him  (the 
stranger)  as  thyself.'  And  thus  said  God  to  Israel,  '  My 
beloved  children,  Am  I  in  want  of  anything  that  I  should 
request  it  of  you  ?  But  what  I  ask  of  you  is  that  you 
should  love,  honour,  and  respect  one  another.'  Therefore, 
love  mankind,  and  bring  them  near  to  the  Torah.  Let 
the  honour  of  thy  friend  be  as  dear  to  thee  as  thine  own. 
Condemn  not  thy  fellow-man  until  thou  art  come  into  his 
place,  and  judge  all  men  in  the  scale  of  merit.  Say  not 
'  I  will  love  scholars,  but  hate  their  disciples ; '  or  even, 
'  I  will  love  the  disciples,  but  hate  the  ignorant,'  but  love 
all,  for  he  who  hates  his  neighbour  is  as  bad  as  a  mur- 
derer. Indeed,  during  the  age  of  the  second  Temple, 
men  studied  the  Torah  and  the  commandments,  and  per- 
formed works  of  charity,  but  they  hated  each  other,  a  sin 
that  outweighs  all  other  sins,  and  for  which  the  holy 
Temple  was  destroyed.  Be  careful  not  to  withdraw  thy 
mercy  from  any  man,  for  he  who  does  so  rebels  against 
the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  Walk  in  the  ways  of  God, 
who  is  merciful  even  to  the  wicked,  and  as  He  is  gracious 
alike  to  those  who  know  Him,  and  to  those  who  know 


204  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Him  not,  so  be  thou.  Indeed,  charity  is  one  of  the  three 
pillars  on  which  the  world  is  based.  It  is  more  precious 
than  all  other  virtues.  The  man  who  gives  charity  in 
secret  is  greater  even  than  Moses  our  teacher.  An  act 
of  charity  and  love  it  is  to  pray  for  our  fellow-man,  and  to 
admonish  him.  '  Thou  shalt  in  any  wise  rebuke  thy  neigh- 
bour, and  not  suffer  sin  upon  him'  (Lev.  xix.  18),  means 
it  is  thy  duty  to  admonish  him  a  hundred  times  if  need  be, 
even  if  he  be  thy  superior ;  for  Jerusalem  was  only  de- 
stroyed for  the  sin  of  its  people  in  not  admonishing  one 
another.  The  man  whose  protest  would  be  of  any  weight, 
and  who  does  not  exercise  his  authority  (when  any  wrong 
is  about  to  be  committed),  is  held  responsible  for  the  whole 
world. 

"  Peacef ulness  and  humility  are  also  the  fruit  of  love. 
Be  of  the  disciples  of  Aaron,  loving  peace,  and  pursuing 
peace.  Let  every  man  be  cautious  in  the  fear  of  God ; 
let  him  ever  give  the  soft  answer  that  turneth  away  wrath ; 
let  him  promote  peace,  not  only  among  his  own  relatives 
and  acquaintances,  but  also  among  the  Gentiles.  For  (the 
labour  of)  all  the  prophets  was  to  plant  peace  in  the  world. 
Be  exceeding  lowly  of  spirit,  since  the  hope  of  man  is  but 
the  worm.  Be  humble  as  Hillel;  for  he  who  is  humble 
causes  the  Divine  presence  to  dwell  with  man.  But  the 
proud  man  makes  God  say,  '  I  and  he  cannot  dwell  in  the 
same  place.'  He  who  runs  after  glory,  glory  flees  from 
him,  and  he  who  flees  from  glory,  glory  shall  pursue  him. 
Be  of  those  who  are  despised  rather  than  of  those  who 
despise ;  of  the  persecuted  rather  than  of  the  persecutors ; 
be  of  those  who  bear  their  reproach  in  silence  and  answer 
not. 

"Another  distinctive  mark  of  Judaism  is  faith  in  God, 


THE  HISTORY   OF  JEWISH   TRADITION  205 

and  perfect  confidence  in  Him.  Which  is  the  right  course 
for  a  man  to  choose  for  himself  ?  Let  him  have  a  strong 
faith  in  God,  as  it  is  said,  '  Mine  eye  shall  be  upon  the 
faithful  (meaning  those  possessing  faith  in  God)  of  the 
land.'  And  so  also  Habakkuk  based  the  whole  Torah  on 
the  principle  of  faith,  as  it  is  said,  '  And  the  just  shall  live 
by  his  faith '  (ii.  4).  He  who  but  fulfils  a  single  command- 
ment in  absolute  faith  in  God  deserves  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  should  rest  on  him.  Blessed  is  the  man  who  fears 
God  in  private,  and  trusts  in  Him  with  all  his  heart,  for 
such  fear  and  trust  arms  him  against  every  misfortune. 
He  who  puts  his  trust  in  the  Holy  One,  blessed  be  He, 
God  becomes  his  shield  and  protection  in  this  world 
and.  in  the  next.  He  who  has  bread  in  his  basket  for 
to-day,  and  says,  '  What  shall  I  have  to  eat  to-morrow  ? ' 
is  a  man  of  little  faith.  One  consequence  of  real  faith  is 
always  to  believe  in  the  justice  of  God's  judgments.  It  is 
the  duty  of  man  to  thank  God  when  he  is  visited  with 
misfortune  as  he  does  in  the  time  of  prosperity.  There- 
fore, blessed  is  the  man  who,  when  visited  by  suffering, 
questions  not  God's  justice.  But  what  shall  he  do  ?  Let 
him  examine  his  conduct  and  repent. 

"  For  repentance  is  the  greatest  prerogative  of  man. 
Better  is  one  hour  of  repentance  and  good  deeds  in  this 
world  than  the  whole  life  of  the  world  to  come.  The  aim 
of  all  wisdom  is  repentance  and  good  deeds.  The  place 
where  the  truly  penitent  shall  stand  is  higher  than  that  of 
the  righteous.  Repentance  finds  its  special  expression  in 
prayer ;  and  when  it  is  said  in  Scripture,  '  Serve  God  with 
all  thy  heart,'  by  this  is  meant,  serve  Him  by  prayer,  which 
is  even  greater  than  worship  by  means  of  sacrifices. 
Never  is  a  prayer  entirely  unanswered  by  God.  There- 


206  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

fore,  even  though  the  sword  be  on  a  man's  neck,  let  him 
not  cease  to  supplicate  God's  mercy.  But  regard  not  thy 
prayer  as  a  fixed  mechanical  task,  but  as  an  appeal  for 
mercy  and  grace  before  the  All-Present;  as  it  is  said, 
'  For  He  is  gracious  and  full  of  mercy,  slow  to  anger, 
abounding  in  loving-kindness,  and  repenteth  him  of  the 
evil.' " 

The  last  two  volumes  of  Weiss's  work  deal  with  the 
history  of  Tradition  during  the  Middle  Ages,  that  is,  from 
the  conclusion  of  the  Talmud  to  the  compilation  of  the 
Code  of  the  Law  by  R.  Joseph  Caro.  I  have  already  in- 
dicated that  with  Weiss  Tradition  did  not  terminate  with 
the  conclusion  of  the  Talmud.  It  only  means  that  a 
certain  undefinable  kind  of  literature,  mostly  held  in.  dia- 
logue form  and  containing  many  elements  of  Tradition, 
was  at  last  brought  to  an  end.  The  authorities  who  did 
this  editorial  work  were  the  so-called  Rabbanan  Saburai^ 
and  the  Gaonim,  whose  lives  and  literary  activity  are  fully 
described  by  Weiss.  But,  while  thus  engaged  in  preserv- 
ing their  inheritance  from  the  past,  they  were  also  enrich- 
ing Tradition  by  new  contributions,  both  the  Saburai  and 
the  Gaonim  having  not  only  added  to  and  diminished  from 
the  Talmud,  but  having  also  introduced  avowedly  new 
ordinances  and  decrees,  and  created  new  institutions. 

Now,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  a  few  of  these  ordinances 
and  decrees  had  a  reforming  tendency  (see  the  second  and 
twentieth  chapters  of  vol.  iv.);  in  general,  however,  they 
took  a  more  conservative  turn  than  was  the  case  in  the 
previous  ages.  This  must  be  ascribed  to  the  event  of  the 
great  schism  within  the  Rabbinical  camp  itself.  I  refer 
to  the  rise  of  Caraism,  which  took  place  during  the  first 
half  of  the  eighth  century. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  JEWISH   TRADITION 

There  is  probably  no  work  in  which  the  Halachic  or 
legalistic  side  of  this  sect  is  better  described  than  in  this 
volume  of  Weiss.  I  regret  that  I  am  unable  to  enter  into 
its  details.  But  I  cannot  refrain  from  pointing  to  one  of 
the  main  principles  of  the  Caraites.  This  was  "  Search 
the  Scriptures."  Now  this  does  not  look  very  dissimilar 
from  the  principle  held  by  the  Rabbis.  For  what  else  is 
the  Talmud,  but  a  thorough  searching  through  the  Bible 
for  whatever  was  suggestive  by  time  and  circumstances  ? 
The  light  which  the  Caraites  applied  to  the  searching  of 
the  Scriptures  was  the  same  which  illumined  the  paths  of 
the  Rabbis'  investigations.  They  employed  most  of  the 
expository  rules  of  the  Tannaite  schools.  The  fact  is  that 
they  were  only  determined  to  find  something  different  from 
what  the  Rabbis  found  in  the  Scriptures.  They  wanted 
to  have  gloomy  Sabbaths  and  Festivals,  and  discovered 
authority  for  it  in  the  Bible ;  they  wanted  to  retain  most 
of  the  dietary  laws  which  had  their  root  only  in  Tradition, 
but  insisted  on  petty  differences  which  they  thought  might 
be  inferred  from  the  Scriptures,  and  they  created  a  new 
"  order  of  inheritance,"  and  varied  the  forbidden  degrees 
in  marriage,  in  all  which  the  only  merit  was  that  they  were 
in  contradiction  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Rabbis.  They 
also  refused  to  accept  the  Liturgy  of  Rabbinical  Judaism, 
but  never  succeeded  in  producing  more  than  a  patch- 
work from  verses  of  the  Bible,  which,  thus  recast,  they 
called  a  prayer-book.  There  were  undoubtedly  among 
their  leaders  many  serious  and  sincere  men,  but  they  give 
us  the  impression  of  prigs,  as  for  instance,  Moses  Darai, 
when  he  reproaches  the  Rabbinical  Jews  for  having  an 
"  easy  religion,"  or  Israel  Hammaarabi,  when  he  recom- 
mended his  book  on  the  laws  regarding  the  slaughtering 


208  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

of  animals,  as  having  the  special  advantage  that  his  deci- 
sions were  always  on  the  more  stringent  side.  Those 
who  made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land  were  by  the 
Caraites  canonised  as  "  mourners."  The  Rabbanite  R. 
Judah  Hallevi  also  visited  the  ruins  of  Jerusalem,  but  he 
did  something  more  than  "  mourn  and  sigh  and  cry,"  he 
became  a  God-intoxicated  singer,  and  wrote  the  "Zion- 
Elegy."  The  novel  terminology  which  they  use  in  their  ex- 
egetical  and  theological  works,  was  only  invented  to  spite 
the  Rabbanites,  and  marks  its  authors  as  pedants.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  their  opponents 
did  not  employ  the  best  means  to  conciliate  them.  The 
Middle  Ages  knew  no  other  remedy  against  schism  than 
excommunication,  and  the  Gaonim  were  the  children  of 
their  time.  Nor  were  the  arguments  which  the  latter 
brought  forward  in  defence  of  Tradition  always  calculated 
to  convince  the  Caraites  of  their  error.  When  R.  Saadiah, 
in  his  apology  for  the  institution  of  the  Second  Day  of 
the  Festival,13  went  the  length  of  assigning  to  it  a  Sinaitic 
origin,  he  could  only  succeed  in  making  the  Caraites  more 
suspicious  of  the  claims  of  Tradition  than  before.  In  a 
later  generation  one  of  his  own  party,  R.  Hai  Gaon,  had 
to  declare  his  predecessor's  words  a  "  controversial  exag- 
geration." The  zeal  which  some  of  the  Gaonim  showed 
in  their  defence  of  such  works  as  the  Chambers  and  the 
Measure  of  the  Stature  14  was  a  not  less  unfortunate  thing, 
for  it  involved  the  Rabbanites  in  unnecessary  responsi- 
bilities for  a  new  class  of  literature  of  doubtful  origin, 
which  in  succeeding  centuries  was  disowned  by  the  best 
minds  in  Judaism. 

The  Gaonic  period,  to  which  we  also  owe  the  rise  of  the 
Massorah  and  the  introduction  of  points  in  the  text  of  the 


THE  HISTORY  OF  JEWISH   TRADITION  209 

Bible  — of  which  Weiss  treats  fully  in  the  twenty-third 
and  twenty-fourth  chapters  of  vol.  iv.  —  comes  to  an  end 
with  the  death  of  R.  Hai.  The  famous  schools  of  Sura 
and  Pumbeditha,  over  which  these  two  Gaonim  presided, 
fell  into  decay,  and  Babylon  ceased  to  be  the  centre  of 
Judaism.  To  be  more  exact,  we  should  say  that  Judaism 
had  no  longer  any  real  centre.  Instead  of  dwelling  in  one 
place  for  centuries,  we  now  have  to  be  perpetually  on  our 
journey,  accompanying  our  authors  through  all  the  inhab- 
ited parts  of  the  world  —  France,  Italy,  Spain,  Germany, 
with  an  occasional  trip  to  Africa  and  Russia.  There  we 
shall  meet  with  the  new  schools,  each  of  which,  though 
interpreting  the  same  Torah,  occupied  with  the  study  of 
the  same  Talmud,  and  even  conforming  more  or  less  to 
the  same  mode  of  life,  has  an  individuality  and  character 
of  its  own,  reflecting  the  thought  and  habits  of  the  country 
which  it  represents.  Thus  "geographical  Judaism"  be- 
comes a  factor  in  history  which  no  scholar  can  afford  to 
neglect.  It  is  true  that  Judaism  never  remained  entirely 
unbiassed  by  foreign  ideas,  and  our  author  points  in  many 
a  place  to  Persian,  Greek,  and  Roman  influences  on 
Tradition ;  still,  these  influences  seem  to  have  undergone 
such  a  thorough  "  Judaization  "  that  it  is  only  the  practised 
eye  of  the  scholar  that  is  able  to  see  through  the  transfor- 
mation. But  it  requires  no  great  skill  to  discriminate 
between  the  work  produced  by  a  Spanish  and  that  of  a 
French  Rabbi.  Though  both  would  write  in  Hebrew, 
they  betray  themselves  very  soon  by  the  style,  diction, 
and  train  of  thought  peculiar  to  each  .country.  The 
Spaniard  is  always  logical,  clear,  and  systematising,  whilst 
the  French  Rabbi  has  very  little  sense  of  order,  is  always 
writing  occasional  notes,  has  a  great  tendency  to  be 


2IO  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

obscure,  but  is  mostly  profound  and  critical.  Hence  the 
fact  that  whilst  Spain  produced  the  greatest  codifiers  of 
the  law,  we  owe  to  France  and  Germany  the  best  com- 
mentaries on  the  Talmud.  What  these  codes  and  com- 
mentaries meant  for  Judaism  the  student  will  find  in 
Weiss's  book,  and  still  more  fully  in  his  admirable  essays 
on  Rashi  (Solomon  b.  Isaac),  Maimonides,  and  R.  Jacob 
Tarn  (published  in  his  periodical,  Beth  Talmud,  and  also 
separately).  It  is  enough  for  us  here  only  to  notice  the 
fact  of  the  breadth  of  Tradition,  which  could  include 
within  its  folds  men  of  such  different  types  as  the  sceptics, 
Maimonides,  Solomon  b.  Gabirol,  and  Abn  Ezra  on  one 
side,  and  the  simple  "non-questioning"  Rabbenu  Ger- 
shom,  Rashi,  and  Jacob  Tarn  on  the  other. 

The  last  three  centuries,  which  occupy  our  author's 
attention  in  the  fifth  volume,  are  not  remarkable  for  their 
progress.  The  world  lives  on  the  past.  The  rationalists 
write  treatises  on  Maimonides'  philosophical  works,  whilst 
the  German  Talmudists  add  commentary  to  commentary. 
It  is,  indeed,  the  reign  of  authority,  "  modified  by  acci- 
dents." Such  an  accident  was  the  struggle  between  the 
Maimonists  and  Anti-Maimonists,  or  the  rise  of  the  Cab- 
balah,  or  the  frequent  controversies  with  Christians,  all  of 
which  tended  to  direct  the  minds  of  people  into  new  chan- 
nels of  thought.  But  though  this  period  is  less  original  in 
its  work,  it  is  not  on  that  account  less  sympathetic.  One 
cannot  read  those  beautiful  descriptions  which  Weiss  gives 
of  R.  Meir  of  Rothenburg  and  his  school,  or  of  R.  Asher 
and  his  descendants,  without  feeling  that  one  is  in  an 
atmosphere  of  saints,  who  are  the  more  attractive  the 
less  they  were  conscious  of  their  own  saintliness.  The 
only  mistake,  perhaps,  was  that  the  successors  of  these 


THE  HISTORY  OF  JEWISH   TRADITION  2II 

"Chassidim  or  pious  men  of  Germany"  looked  on  many 
of  the  religious  customs  that  were  merely  the  voluntary 
expression  of  particularly  devout  souls  as  worthy  of  imita- 
tion by  the  whole  community,  and  made  them  obligatory 
upon  all. 

This  brings  us  to  the  question  of  the  Code  already  men- 
tioned (by  R.  Joseph  Caro),  with  which  Weiss's  work  con- 
cludes. I  have  already  transgressed  the  limits  of  an 
essay,  without  flattering  myself  that  I  have  done  anything 
like  justice  to  the  greatest  work  on  Jewish  Tradition 
which  modern  Jewish  genius  has  produced.  But  I  should 
not  like  the  reader  to  carry  away  with  him  the  false  im- 
pression that  our  author  shares  in  the  general  cry,  "  Save 
us  from  the  Codifiers."  Weiss,  himself  a  Rabbi,  and  the 
disciple  of  the  greatest  Rabbis  of  the  first  half  of  this  cen- 
tury, is  quite  aware  of  the  impossibility  of  having  a  law 
without  a  kind  of  manual  to  it,  which  brings  the  fluid 
matter  into  some  fixed  form,  classifying  it  under  its  proper 
headings,  and  this  is  what  we  call  codifying  the  law.  And 
thus  he  never  passes  any  attempt  made  in  this  direction 
without  paying  due  tribute  to  its  author  —  be  it  Maimon- 
ides  or  Caro.  But  however  great  the  literary  value  of  a 
code  may  be,  it  does  not  invest  it  with  the  attribute  of  in- 
fallibility, nor  does  it  exempt  the  student  or  the  Rabbi 
who  makes  use  of  it  from  the  duty  of  examining  each  par- 
agraph on  its  own  merits,  and  subjecting  it  to  the  same 
rules  of  interpretation  that  were  always  applied  to  Tradi- 
tion. Indeed,  Weiss  shows  that  Maimonides  deviated  in 
some  cases  from  his  own  code,  when  it  was  required  by 
circumstances. 

Nor  do  I  know  any  modern  author  who  is  more  in 
favour  of  strong  authority  than  Weiss.  His  treatment  of 


212  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

the  struggle  between  the  Patriarch  R.  Gamaliel  and  his 
adversaries,  which  I  have  touched  on  above,  proves  this 
sufficiently.  What  Weiss  really  objects  to,  is  a  weak 
authority  —  I  mean  that  phonograph-like  authority  which 
is  always  busy  in  reproducing  the  voice  of  others  without 
an  opinion  of  its  own,  without  originality,  without  initiative 
and  discretion.  The  real  authorities  are  those  who,  draw- 
ing their  inspiration  from  the  past,  also  understand  how  to 
reconcile  us  with  the  present  and  to  prepare  us  for  the 
future. 


VIII 

THE   DOCTRINE   OF    DIVINE    RETRIBUTION 
IN    RABBINICAL   LITERATURE 

"  BLESSED  be  he  who  knows."  These  are  the  words 
with  which  Nachmanides,  in  his  classical  treatise,  Gate  of 
Reward,  dismisses  a  certain  theory  of  the  Gaonim  with 
regard  to  this  question ;  after  which  he  proceeds  to  ex- 
pound another  theory,  which  seems  to  him  more  satisfac- 
tory. This  mode  of  treatment  implies  that,  unsatisfactory 
as  the  one  or  other  theory  may  appear  to  us,  it  would  be 
presumptuous  to  reject  either  entirely,  there  being  only 
One  who  knows  the  exact  truth  about  the  great  mystery. 
But  we  may  indicate  our  doubt  about  one  doctrine  by  put- 
ting by  its  side  another,  which  we  may  affirm  to  be  not 
more  absolutely  true,  but  more  probable.  This  seems  to 
have  been  the  attitude,  too,  of  the  compilers  of  the  ancient 
Rabbinical  literature,  in  which  the  most  conflicting  views 
about  this  grave  subject  were  embodied.  Nor  did  the  Syn- 
agogue in  general  feel  called  upon  to  decide  between  these 
views.  There  is  indeed  no  want  of  theodicies,  for  almost 
every  important  expounder  of  Job,  as  well  as  every  Jewish 
philosopher  of  note,  has  one  with  its  own  system  of  retribu- 
tion. Thus  Judaism  has  no  fixed  doctrine  on  the  subject. 
It  refused  a  hearing  to  no  theory,  for  fear  that  it  should 

213 


214  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

contain  some  germ  of  truth,  but  on  the  same  ground  it 
accepted  none  to  the  exclusion  of  the  others. 

These  theories  may,  perhaps,  be  conveniently  reduced 
to  the  two  following  main  doctrines  that  are  in  direct 
opposition  to  each  other,  whilst  all  other  views  about  the 
subject  will  be  treated  as  the  more  or  less  logical  results  of 
the  one  or  other  doctrine. 

I.  There  is  no  death  without  (preceding)  sin,  nor  afflic- 
tion without  (preceding)  transgression.1  This  view  is  cited 
in  the  name  of  R.  Ammi,  who  quoted  in  corroboration  the 
verses  Ez.  xviii.  20,  and  Ps.  Ixxxix.  33.  Though  this 
Rabbi  flourished  towards  the  end  of  the  third  century, 
there  is  hardly  any  doubt  that  his  view  was  held  by  the 
authorities  of  a  much  earlier  date.  For  it  can  only  be 
under  the  sway  of  such  a  notion  of  Retribution  that  the 
Tannaim  were  so  anxious  to  assign  some  great  crime  as 
the  antecedent  to  every  serious  calamity  by  which  man- 
kind was  visited.  The  following  illustrations  will  suffice  : 
— "  Pestilence  comes  into  the  world  for  capital  crimes 
mentioned  in  the  Torah,  which  are  not  brought  before  the 
earthly  tribunal.  .  .  .  Noisome  beasts  come  into  the  world 
for  vain  swearing  and  for  profanation  of  the  name  (of  God). 
Captivity  comes  upon  the  world  for  strange  worship  and 
incest,  and  for  shedding  of  blood  and  for  (not)  giving 
release  to  the  land."  As  an  example  of  the  misfortune 
befalling  the  individual  I  will  merely  allude  to  a  passage  in 
another  tractate  of  the  Talmud,  according  to  which  lep- 
rosy is  to  be  regarded  as  the  penalty  for  immorality, 
slander,  perjury,  and  similar  sins.2 

If  we  were  now  to  complement  R.  Ammi's  view  by  add- 
ing that  there  is  no  happiness  without  some  preceding 
merit — and  there  is  no  serious  objection  to  making  this 


THE  DOCTRINE    OF  DIVINE  RETRIBUTION 


215 


addition  —  then  it  would  resolve  itself  into  the  theory  of 
Measure  for  Measure,  which  forms  a  very  common  stand- 
ard of  reward  and  punishment  in  Jewish  literature. 
Here  are  a  few  instances :  — "  Because  the  Egyptians 
wanted  to  destroy  Israel  by  water  (Exod.  i.  22),  they  were 
themselves  destroyed  by  the  waters  of  the  Red  Sea,  as 
it  is  said,  Therefore  I  will  measure  their  former  work 
into  their  bosom  (Is.  Ixv.  7);"  whilst,  on  the  other  hand, 
we  read,  "  Because  Abraham  showed  himself  hospitable 
towards  strangers,  providing  them  with  water  (Gen.  xviii. 
4),  God  gave  to  his  children  a  country  blessed  with  plenty 
of  water  (Deut.  viii.  i)."  Sometimes  this  form  of  retri- 
bution goes  so  far  as  to  define  a  special  punishment  to 
that  part  of  the  body  which  mostly  contributed  to  the 
committing  of  the  sin.  Thus  we  read,  "  Samson  rebelled 
against  God  by  his  eyes,  as  it  is  said,  Get  her  (the  Philis- 
tine woman)  for  me,  for  she  pleases  my  eyes  (Judg.  xvi. 
21);  therefore  his  eyes  were  put  out  by  the  Philistines 
(Judg.  xviii.  9)";  whilst  Absalom,  whose  sinful  pride  be- 
gan by  his  hair  (2  Sam.  xiv.  25),  met  his  fate  by  his  hair 
(2  Sam.  xviii.  9).3  Nahum  of  Gemzo  himself  explained 
his  blindness  and  the  maimed  condition  of  his  arms  and 
legs  as  a  consequence  of  a  specific  offence  in  having  neg- 
lected the  duty  of  succouring  a  poor  man.  Addressing 
the  dead  body  of  the  suppliant  who  perished  while  Nahum 
was  delaying  his  help,  he  said,  "  Let  my  eyes  (which  had 
no  pity  for  your  pitiful  gaze)  become  blind ;  may  my 
hands  and  legs  (that  did  not  hasten  to  help  thine)  become 
maimed,  and  finally  my  whole  body  be  covered  with 
boils."  4  "  This  was  the  hand  that  wrote  it,"  said  Cranmer 
at  the  stake;  "therefere  it  shall  first  suffer  punishment." 
It  is  worth  noticing  that  this  retribution  does  not  always 


2i6  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

consist  in  a  material  reward,  but,  as  Ben  Azzai  expressed 
it :  "  The  reward  of  a  command  is  a  command,  and  the 
reward  of  a  transgression  is  a  transgression."  5  So  again  : 
"  Because  Abraham  showed  himself  so  magnanimous  in 
his  treatment  of  the  king  of  Sodom,  and  said,  I  will  not 
take  from  thee  a  thread ;  therefore,  his  children  enjoyed 
the  privilege  of  having  the  command  of  Zizith,  consisting 
in  putting  a  thread  or  fringe  in  the  border  of  their  gar- 
ments." In  another  passage  we  read,  "  He  who  is  anx- 
ious to  do  acts  of  charity  will  be  rewarded  by  having  the 
means  enabling  him  to  do  so."6  In  more  general  terms 
the  same  thought  is  expressed  when  the  Rabbis  explained 
the  words,  Ye  shall  sanctify  yourselves,  and  ye  shall  be 
holy  (Lev.  xi.  44),  to  the  effect  that  if  man  takes  the  initi- 
ative in  holiness,  even  though  in  a  small  way,  Heaven  will 
help  him  to  reach  it  to  a  much  higher  degree.7 

Notwithstanding  these  passages,  to  which  many  more 
might  be  added,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  there  are  in  the 
Rabbinical  literature  many  passages  holding  out  promises 
of  material  reward  to  the  righteous  as  well  as  threatening 
the  wicked  with  material  punishment.  Nor  is  there  any 
need  of  denying  it.  Simple-minded  men  —  and  such  the 
majority  of  the  Rabbis  were — will  never  be  persuaded 
into  looking  with  indifference  on  pain  and  pleasure ;  they 
will  be  far  from  thinking  that  poverty,  loss  of  children, 
and  sickness  are  no  evil,  and  that  a  rich  harvest,  hope  of 
posterity,  and  good  health,  are  not  desirable  things.  It 
does  lie  in  our  nature  to  consider  the  former  as  curses  and 
the  latter  as  blessings ;  "  and  if  this  be  wrong  there  is 
no  one  to  be  made  responsible  for  it  but  the  Creator  of 
nature."  Accordingly  the  question  must  arise,  How  can 
a  just  and  omnipotent  God  allow  it  to  happen  that  men 


THE  DOCTRINE    OF  DIVINE  RETRIBUTION 

should  suffer  innocently  ?  The  most  natural  suggestion 
towards  solving  the  difficulty  would  be  that  we  are  not 
innocent.  Hence  R.  Ammi's  assertion  that  affliction  and 
death  are  both  the  outcome  of  sin  and  transgression ;  or, 
as  R.  Chanina  ben  Dossa  expressed  it,  "  It  is  not  the  wild 
beast  but  sin  which  kills."  8 

We  may  thus  perceive  in  this  theory  an  attempt  "to 
justify  the  ways  of  God  to  man."  Unfortunately  it  does 
not  correspond  with  the  real  facts.  The  cry  wrung  from 
the  prophets  against  the  peace  enjoyed  by  the  wicked, 
and  the  pains  inflicted  on  the  righteous,  which  finds  its 
echo  in  so  many  Psalms,  and  reaches  its  climax  in  the 
Book  of  Job,  was  by  no  means  silenced  in  the  times  of 
the  Rabbis.  If  long  experience  could  be  of  any  use,  it 
only  served  to  deepen  perplexity.  For  all  this  suffering 
of  the  people  of  God,  and  the  prosperity  of  their  wicked 
persecutors,  which  perplexed  the  prophets  and  their  im- 
mediate followers,  were  repeated  during  the  death-strug- 
gle for  independence  against  Rome,  and  were  not  lessened 
by  the  establishment  of  Christianity  as  the  dominant  re- 
ligion. The  only  comfort  which  time  brought  them  was, 
perhaps,  that  the  long  continuance  of  misfortune  made 
them  less  sensible  to  suffering  than  their  ancestors  were. 
Indeed,  a  Rabbi  of  the  first  century  said  that  his  genera- 
tion had  by  continuous  experience  of  misery  become  as 
insensible  to  pain  as  the  dead  body  is  to  a  prick  of  a 
needle.9  The  anaesthetic  effect  of  long  suffering  may, 
indeed,  help  one  to  endure  pain  with  more  patience,  but 
it  cannot  serve  as  an  apology  for  the  deed  of  the  inflictors 
of  the  pain.  The  question,  then,  how  to  reconcile  hard 
reality  with  the  justice  of  God,  remained  as  difficult  as 
ever. 


2Ig  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

The  most  important  passage  in  Rabbinical  literature  re- 
lating to  the  solution  of  this  problem  is  the  following :  — 
With  reference  to  Exod.  xxxiii.  13,  R.  Johanan  said,  in  the 
name  of  R.  Jose,  that,  among  other  things,  Moses  also 
asked  God  to  explain  to  him  the  method  of  his  Providence, 
a  request  that  was  granted  to  him.  He  asked  God,  Why 
are  there  righteous  people  who  are  prosperous,  and  right- 
eous who  suffer ;  wicked  who  are  prosperous  and  wicked 
who  surfer  ?  The  answer  given  to  him  was,  according  to 
the  one  view,  that  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked  and  the 
suffering  of  the  righteous  are  a  result  of  the  conduct  of 
their  ancestors,  the  former  being  the  descendants  of  right- 
eous parents  and  enjoying  their  merits,  whilst  the  latter, 
coming  from  a  bad  stock,  surfer  for  the  sins  of  those  to 
whom  they  owe  their  existence.  This  view  was  suggested 
by  the  Scriptural  words,  "  Keeping  mercy  for  thousands 
(of  generations)  .  .  .  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children  "  (Exod.  xxxiv.  7),  which  were  regarded 
as  the  answer  to  Moses'  question  in  the  preceding  chapter 
of  Exodus.10  Prevalent,  however,  as  this  view  may  have 
been  in  ancient  times,  the  Rabbis  never  allowed  it  to  pass 
without  some  qualification.  It  is  true  that  they  had  no 
objection  to  the  former  part  of  this  doctrine,  and  they 
speak  very  frequently  of  the  "  Merits  of  the  Fathers  "  for 
which  the  remotest  posterity  is  rewarded ;  for  this  could 
be  explained  on  the  ground  of  the  boundless  goodness  of 
God,  which  cannot  be  limited  to  the  short  space  of  a  life- 
time. But  there  was  no  possibility  of  overcoming  the 
moral  objection  against  punishment  of  people  for  sins 
they  have  not  committed. 

It  will  suffice  to  mention  here  that,  with  reference  to 
Joshua  vii.  24,  25,  the  Rabbis  asked  the  question,  If  he 


THE  DOCTRINE    OF  DIVINE  RETRIBUTION         219 

(Achan)  sinned,  what  justification  could  there  be  for  put- 
ting his  sons  and  daughters  to  death  ?  And  by  the  force 
of  this  argument  they  interpreted  the  words  of  the  Script- 
ures to  mean  that  the  children  of  the  criminal  were  only 
compelled  to  be  present  at  the  execution  of  their  father. 

Such  passages,  therefore,  as  would  imply  that  children 
have  to  suffer  for  the  sins  of  their  parents  are  explained 
by  the  Rabbis  as  referring  to  cases  in  which  the  children 
perpetuate  the  crimes  of  their  fathers.11  The  view  of 
R.  Jose,  which  I  have  already  quoted,  had,  therefore,  to 
be  dropped,  and  another  version  in  the  name  of  the  same 
Rabbi  is  accepted.  According  to  this  theory  the  sufferer 
is  a  person  either  "  entirely  wicked "  or  "  not  perfectly 
righteous,"  whilst  the  prosperous  man  is  a  person  either 
"perfectly  righteous,"  or  "not  entirely  wicked." 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  there  is  still  some- 
thing wanting  to  supplement  this  view,  for  the  given  clas- 
sification would  place  the  not  entirely  wicked  on  the  same 
level  with  the  perfectly  righteous,  and  on  a  much  higher 
level  than  the  imperfectly  righteous,  who  are  undoubtedly 
far  superior.  The  following  passage  may  be  regarded  as 
supplying  this  missing  something  :  —  "  The  wicked  who 
have  done  some  good  work  are  as  amply  rewarded  for  it 
in  this  world  as  if  they  were  men  who  have  fulfilled  the 
whole  of  the  Torah,  so  that  they  may  be  punished  for 
their  sins  in  the  next  world  (without  interruption) ;  whilst 
the  righteous  who  have  committed  some  sin  have  to  suffer 
for  it  (in  this  world)  as  if  "  they  were  men  who  burned  the 
Law,"  so  that  they  may  enjoy  their  reward  in  the  world  to 
come  (without  interruption)."  12  Thus  the  real  retribution 
takes  place  in  the  next  world,  the  fleeting  existence  on 
earth  not  being  the  fit  time  either  to  compensate  right- 


220  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

eousness  or  to  punish  sin.  But  as,  on  the  one  hand,  God 
never  allows  "  that  the  merit  of  any  creature  should  be 
cut  short,"  whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  He  deals  very 
severely  with  the  righteous,  punishing  them  for  the 
slightest  transgression ;  since,  too,  this  reward  and  punish- 
ment are  only  of  short  duration,  they  must  take  place  in 
this  short  terrestrial  existence.  There  is  thus  established 
a  sort  of  divine  economy,  lest  the  harmony  of  the  next 
world  should  be  disturbed. 

Yet  another  objection  to  the  doctrine  under  discussion 
remains  to  be  noticed.  It  is  that  it  justifies  God  by 
accusing  man,  declaring  every  sufferer  as  more  or  less 
of  a  sinner.  But  such  a  notion,  if  carried  to  its  last 
consequences,  must  result  in  tempting  us  to  withhold 
our  sympathies  from  him.  And,  indeed,  it  would  seem 
that  there  were  some  non-Jewish  philosophers  who  argued 
in  this  way.  Thus  a  certain  Roman  official  is  reported 
to  have  said  to  R.  Akiba,  "  How  can  you  be  so  eager 
in  helping  the  poor?  Suppose  only  a  king,  who,  in  his 
wrath  against  his  slave,  were  to  set  him  in  the  gaol,  and 
give  orders  to  withhold  from  him  food  and  drink;  if, 
then,  one  dared  to  act  to  the  contrary,  would  not  the 
king  be  angry  with  him  ?  "  13  There  is  some  appearance 
of  logic  in  this  notion  put  into  the  mouth  of  a  heathen. 
The  Rabbis,  however,  were  inconsistent  people,  and  re- 
sponded to  the  appeal  which  suffering  makes  to  every 
human  heart  without  asking  too  many  questions.  With- 
out entering  here  into  the  topic  of  charity  in  the  Rabbinic 
literature,  which  would  form  a  very  interesting  chapter, 
I  shall  only  allude  now  to  the  following  incident,  which 
would  show  that  the  Rabbis  did  not  abandon  even  those 
afflicted  with  leprosy,  which,  according  to  their  own 


THE  DOCTRINE    OF  DIVINE  RETRIBUTION        22I 

notion,  given  above,  followed  only  as  a  punishment  for 
the  worst  crimes.  One  Friday,  we  are  told,  when  the 
day  was  about  to  darken,  the  Chassid  Abba  Tachnah 
was  returning  home,  bearing  on  his  shoulders  the  baggage 
that  contained  all  his  fortune;  he  saw  a  leprous  man 
lying  on  the  road,  who  addressed  him  :  "  Rabbi,  do  me 
a  deed  of  charity  and  take  me  into  the  town."  The 
Rabbi  now  thought,  "  If  I  leave  my  baggage,  where  shall 
I  find  the  means  of  obtaining  subsistence  for  myself  and 
my  family  ?  But  if  I  forsake  this  leprous  man  I  shall 
commit  a  mortal  sin."  In  the  end,  he  allowed  the  good 
inclination  to  prevail  over  the  evil  one,  and  first  carried 
the  sufferer  to  the  town.14  The  only  practical  conclusion 
that  the  Rabbis  drew  from  such  theories  as  identify 
suffering  with  sin  were  for  the  sufferer  himself,  who 
otherwise  might  be  inclined  to  blame  Providence,  or  even 
to  blaspheme,  but  would  now  look  upon  his  affliction  as 
a  reminder  from  heaven  that  there  is  something  wrong 
in  his  moral  state.  Thus  we  read  in  tractate  Berachoth : 15 
"  If  a  man  sees  that  affliction  comes  upon  him,  he  ought 
to  inquire  into  his  actions,  as  it  is  said,  Let  us  search  and 
try  our  ways,  and  turn  again  to  the  Lord  (Lam.  iii.  40)." 
This  means  to  say  that  the  sufferer  will  find  that  he 
has  been  guilty  of  some  offence.  As  an  illustration  of 
this  statement  we  may  perhaps  consider  the  story  about 
R.  Huna,  occurring  in  the  same  tractate.16  Of  this  Rabbi 
it  is  said  that  he  once  experienced  heavy  pecuniary  losses, 
whereupon  his  friends  came  to  his  house  and  said  to  him, 
"  Let  the  master  but  examine  his  conduct  a  little  closer." 
On  this  R.  Huna  answered,  "  Do  you  suspect  me  of 
having  committed  some  misdeed  ?  "  His  friends  rejoined, 
"  And  do  you  think  that  God  would  pass  judgment  with- 


222  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

out  justice?"  R.  Huna  then  followed  their  hint,  and 
found  that  he  did  not  treat  his  tenant  farmer  so  gener- 
ously as  he  ought.  He  offered  redress,  and  all  turned 
out  well  in  the  end.  Something  similar  is  to  be  found 
in  the  story  of  the  martyrdom  of  R.  Simeon  ben  Gamaliel 
and  R.  Ishmael  ben  Elisha.  Of  these  Rabbis  we  are 
told  that  on  their  way  to  be  executed  the  one  said  to 
the  other,  "  My  heart  leaves  me,  for  I  am  not  aware  of 
a  sin  deserving  such  a  death  " ;  on  which  the  other  an- 
swered, "  It  might  have  happened  that  in  your  function 
as  judge  you  sometimes  —  for  your  own  convenience  — 
were  slow  in  administering  justice."17 

But  even  if  the  personal  actions  of  the  righteous  were 
blameless,  there  might  still  be  sufficient  ground  for  his  being 
afflicted  and  miserable.  This  may  be  found  in  his  relations 
to  his  kind  and  surroundings,  or,  to  use  the  term  now  more 
popular,  by  reason  of  human  solidarity.  Now,  after  the 
above  remarks  on  the  objections  entertained  by  the  Rabbis 
against  a  man's  being  punished  for  the  sins  of  others,  it 
is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  their  idea  of  solidarity  has 
little  in  common  with  the  crude  notions  of  it  current  in 
very  ancient  times.  Still,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that 
the  relation  of  the  individual  to  the  community  was  more 
keenly  felt  by  the  Rabbis  than  by  the  leaders  in  any  other 
society,  modern  or  ancient.  According  to  the  view  given 
by  an  ancient  Rabbi  whose  name  is  unknown,  it  would, 
indeed,  seem  that  to  them  the  individual  was  not  simply  a 
member  of  the  Jewish  commonwealth,  or  a  co-religionist, 
but  a  limb  of  the  great  and  single  body  "  Israel,"  and  that 
as  such  he  communicated  both  for  good  and  evil  the  sen- 
sations of  the  one  part  to  the  whole.  In  the  Midras/i, 
where  a  parallel  is  to  be  found  to  this  idea,  the  responsi- 


THE  DOCTRINE    OF  DIVINE  RETRIBUTION 


223 


bility  of  the  individual  towards  the  community  is  further 
illustrated  by  R.  Simeon  ben  Yochai,  in  the  following  way  : 
"It  is,"  we  read  there,  "to  be  compared  to  people  sitting 
on  board  a  ship,  one  of  the  passengers  of  which  took  an 
awl  and  began  to  bore  holes  in  the  bottom  of  the  vessel. 
Asked  to  desist  from  his  dangerous  occupation,  he  an- 
swered, '  Why,  I  am  only  making  holes  on  my  own  seat,' 
forgetting  that  when  the  water  came  in  it  would  sink  the 
whole  ship."  Thus  the  sin  of  a  single  man  might  en- 
danger the  whole  of  humanity.  It  was  in  conformity  with 
the  view  of  his  father  that  R.  Eliezer,  the  son  of  R.  Simeon 
(ben  Yochai)  said,  "  The  world  is  judged  after  the  merits  or 
demerits  of  the  majority,  so  that  a  single  individual  by  his 
good  or  bad  actions  can  decide  the  fate  of  his  fellow-creat- 
ures, as  it  may  happen  that  he  is  just  the  one  who  con- 
stitutes this  majority."  18  Nor  does  this  responsibility  cease 
with  the  man's  own  actions.  According  to  the  Rabbis 
man  is  responsible  even  for  the  conduct  of  others  —  and 
as  such  liable  to  punishment — if  he  is  indifferent  to  the 
wrong  that  is  being  perpetrated  about  him,  whilst  an  ener- 
getic protest  from  his  side'  could  have  prevented  it.  And 
the  greater  the  man  the  greater  is  his  responsibility.  He 
may  suffer  for  the  sins  of  his  family  which  is  first  reached 
by  his  influence  ;  he  may  suffer  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
community  if  he  could  hope  to  find  a  willing  ear  among 
them,  and  he  may  even  suffer  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world  if  his  influence  extend  so  far,  and  he  forbear  from 
exerting  it  for  good.19  Thus  the  possibility  is  given  that 
the  righteous  man  may  suffer  with  justice,  though  he  him- 
self has  never  committed  any  transgression. 

As  a  much  higher  aspect  of  this  solidarity  —  and  as  may 
have  already  suggested  itself  to  the  reader  from  the  pas- 


224  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

sage  cited  above  from  the  anonymous  Rabbi  —  we  may 
regard  the  suffering  of  the  righteous  as  an  atonement  for 
the  sins  of  their  contemporaries.  "When  there  will  be 
neither  Tabernacle  nor  the  Holy  Temple,"  Moses  is  said 
to  have  asked  God,  "  what  will  become  of  Israel  ?  "  Where- 
upon God  answers,  "  I  will  take  from  among  them  the 
righteous  man  whom  I  shall  consider  as  pledged  for  them, 
and  will  forgive  all  their  sins ; "  the  death  of  the  perfect 
man,  or  even  his  suffering  being  looked  upon  as  an  expi- 
ation for  the  shortcoming  of  his  generation.20 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remind  the  reader  of  the  affinity 
of  this  idea  with  that  of  sacrifices  in  general,  as  in  both 
cases  it  is  the  innocent  being  which  has  to  suffer  for  the 
sins  of  another  creature.  But  there  is  one  vital  point  which 
makes  all  the  difference.  It  is  that  in  our  ease  the  suffer- 
ing is  not  enforced,  but  is  a  voluntary  act  on  the  part  of 
the  sacrifice,  and  is  even  desired  by  him.  Without  enter- 
ing here  on  the  often-discussed  theme  of  the  suffering  of 
the  Messiah,  I  need  only  mention  the  words  of  R.  Ishmael 
who,  on  a  very  slight  provocation,  exclaimed,  "  I  am  the 
atonement  for  the  Jews,"  which  means  that  he  took  upon 
him  all  their  sins  to  suffer  for  them.21  This  desire  seems 
to  have  its  origin  in  nothing  else  than  a  deep  sympathy 
and  compassion  with  Israel.  To  suffer  for,  or,  at  least 
with  Israel  was,  according  to  the  Rabbis,  already  the  ideal 
of  Moses.  He  is  said,  indeed,  to  have  broken  the  Two 
Tables  with  the  purpose  of  committing  some  sin,  so  that 
he  would  have  either  to  be  condemned  together  with  Israel 
(for  the  sin  of  the  golden  calf),  or  to  be  pardoned  together 
with  them.22  And  this  conduct  was  expected  not  only  from 
the  leaders  of  Israel,  but  almost  from  every  Jew.  "  When 
Israel  is  in  a  state  of  affliction  (as,  for  instance,  famine)  one 


THE  DOCTRINE    OF  DIVINE  RETRIBUTION 


225 


must  not  say,  I  will  rather  live  by  myself,  and  eat  and  drink, 
and  peace  be  unto  thee,  my  soul.  To  those  who  do  so  the 
words  of  the  Scriptures  are  to  be  applied  :  And  in  that  day 
did  the  Lord  God  of  Hosts  call  to  weeping  and  to  mourn- 
ing, .  .  .  and  behold  joy  and  gladness.  .  .  .  Surely  this 
iniquity  shall  not  be  purged  out  from  you  till  ye  die  "  (Is. 
xxii.  12-14).  Another  passage  is  to  the  effect  that,  when  a 
man  shows  himself  indifferent  to  the  suffering  of  the  com- 
munity, there  come  the  two  angels  (who  accompany  every 
Jew),  put  their  hands  on  his  head,  and  say,  "  This  man  who 
has  separated  himself  shall  be  excluded  from  their  con- 
solations."23 

We  might  now  characterise  this  sort  of  suffering  as  the 
chastisement  of  love  (of  the  righteous)  to  mankind,  or 
rather  to  Israel.  But  we  must  not  confuse  it  with  the 
Chastisement  of  Love  often  mentioned  in  the  Talmud, 
though  this  idea  also  seems  calculated  to  account  for  the 
suffering  of  the  righteous.  Here  the  love  is  not  on  the 
side  of  the  sufferer,  but  proceeds  from  him  who  inflicts 
this  suffering.  "  Him,"  says  R.  Huna,  "  in  whom  God 
delights  he  crushes  with  suffering."  As  a  proof  of  this 
theory  the  words  of  Is.  liii.  10  are  given,  which  are  inter- 
preted to  mean :  him  whom  the  Lord  delights  in  He  puts 
to  grief.  Another  passage,  by  the  same  authority,  is  to 
the  effect  that  where  there  is  no  sufficient  cause  for  pun- 
ishment (the  man  being  entirely  free  from  sin),  we  have 
to  regard  his  suffering  as  a  chastisement  of  love,  for  it 
is  said  :  "Whom  the  Lord  loveth  He  correcteth"  (Proverbs 
iii.  n).24  To  what  purpose  He  corrects  him  may,  perhaps, 
be  seen  from  the  following  passage :  "  R.  Eleazar  ben 
Jacob  says :  If  a  man  is  visited  by  affliction  he  has  to  be 
thankful  to  God  for  it :  for  suffering  draws  man  to,  and 
Q 


226  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

reconciles  him  with  God,  as  it  is  said :  For  whom  God 
loveth  he  correcteth." 25 

It  is  in  conformity  with  such  a  high  conception  that 
affliction,  far  from  being  dreaded,  becomes  almost  a 
desirable  end,  and  we  hear  many  Rabbis  exclaim,  "  Be- 
loved is  suffering,"  for  by  it  fatherly  love  is  shown  to  man 
by  God ;  by  it  man  obtains  purification  and  atonement, 
by  it  Israel  came  in  possession  of  the  best  gifts,  such  as 
the  Torah,  the  Holy  Land,  and  eternal  life.26  And  so 
also  the  sufferer,  far  from  being  considered  as  a  man 
with  a  suspected  past,  becomes  an  object  of  veneration, 
on  whom  the  glory  of  God  rests,  and  he  brings  salvation 
to  the  world  if  he  bears  his  affliction  with  joyful  submis- 
sion to  the  will  of  God.27  Continuous  prosperity  is  by  no 
means  to  be  longed  after,  for,  as  R.  Ishmael  taught,  "  He 
who  has  passed  forty  days  without  meeting  adversity  has 
already  received  his  (share  of  the)  world  (to  come)  in 
this  life."28  Nay,  the  standing  rule  is  that  the  really 
righteous  suffer,  whilst  the  wicked  are  supposed  to  be 
in  a  prosperous  state.  Thus,  R.  Jannai  said,  "  We  (aver- 
age people)  enjoy  neither  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked  nor 
the  afflictions  of  the  righteous,"  29  whilst  his  contemporary, 
Rab,  declared  that  he  who  experiences  no  affliction  and 
persecution  does  not  belong  to  them  (the  Jews).30 

2.  The  second  main  view  on  Retribution  is  that  re- 
corded by  the  Rabbis  as  in  direct  opposition  to  that  of 
R.  Ammi.  It  is  that  there  is  suffering  as  well  as  death 
without  sin  and  transgression.  We  may  now  just  as  well 
infer  that  there  is  prosperity  and  happiness  without  pre- 
ceding merits.  And  this  is,  indeed,  the  view  held  by 
R.  Meir.  For  in  contradiction  to  the  view  cited  above, 
R.  Meir  declares  that  the  request  of  Moses  to  have 


THE  DOCTRINE    OF  DIVINE  RETRIBUTION 


227 


explained  to  him  the  mysterious  ways  of  Providence  was 
not  granted,  and  the  answer  he  received  was,  "  And  I  will 
shew  mercy  on  whom  I  will  shew  mercy  "  (Exod.  xxxiii. 
19),  which  means  to  say,  even  though  he  to  whom  the 
mercy  is  shown  be  unworthy  of  it.  The  old  question 
arises  how  such  a  procedure  is  to  be  reconciled  with  the 
justice  and  omnipotence  of  God.  The  commentaries  try 
to  evade  the  difficulty  by  suggesting  some  of  the  views 
given  above,  as  that  the  real  reward  and  punishment  are 
only  in  the  world  to  come,  or  that  the  affliction  of  the 
righteous  is  only  chastisement  of  love,  and  so  on.  From 
the  passages  I  am  about  to  quote,  however,  one  gains  the 
impression  that  some  Rabbis  rather  thought  that  this 
great  problem  will  indeed  not  bear  discussion  or  solution 
at  all.  Thus  we  have  the  legend :  "  The  angels  said  to 
God,  why  have  you  punished  Adam  with  death  ?  He 
answered,  On  account  of  his  having  transgressed  my 
commandment  (with  regard  to  the  eating  of  the  tree  of 
knowledge).  But  why  had  Moses  and  Aaron  to  die  ? 
The  reply  given  to  them  is  the  words,  Eccl.  ix.  2  :  *  All 
things  come  alike  to  all ;  there  is  one  event  to  the  right- 
eous and  to  the  wicked,  to  the  good  and  to  the  clean  and 
to  the  unclean.' " 31  Another  legend  records,  "  When 
Moses  ascended  to  heaven,  God  showed  him  also  the 
great  men  of  futurity.  R.  Akiba  was  sitting  and  inter- 
preting the  law  in  a  most  wonderful  way.  Moses  said 
to  God :  Thou  hast  shown  me  his  worth,  show  me  also 
his  reward ;  on  which  he  is  bidden  to  look  back.  There 
he  perceives  him  dying  the  most  cruel  of  deaths,  and  his 
flesh  being  sold  by  weight.  Moses  now  asks  :  Is  this  the 
reward  of  such  a  life  ?  whereupon  God  answers  him : 
Be  silent;  this  I  have  determined."32 


228  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

It  is  impossible  not  to  think  of  the  fine  lines  of  the 
German  poet :  — 

Warum  schleppt  sich  blutend,  elend, 
Unter  Kreuzlast  der  Gerechte, 
Wahrend  gllicklich  als  ein  Sieger 
Trabt  auf  hohem  Ross  der  Schlechte? 
***** 

AI        r  •     u      *••    j- 

AlsofragenW1rbestand.g  - 

Bis  man  uns  mit  emer  Handvoll 
Erde  endlich  stopft  die  Mauler— 
Aber  ist  das  eine  Antwort? 

Still,  one  might  perhaps  suggest  that  these  passages 
when  examined  a  little  closer,  not  only  contain  a  rebuke 
to  man's  importunity  in  wanting  to  intrude  into  the  secrets 
of  God,  but  also  hint  at  the  possibility  that  even  God's 
omnipotence  is  submitted  to  a  certain  law  —  though  de- 
signed by  His  own  holy  will  —  which  He  could  not  alter 
without  detriment  to  the  whole  creation.  Indeed,  in  one 
of  the  mystical  accounts  of  the  martyrdom  of  R.  Akiba 
and  other  great  Rabbis,  God  is  represented  as  asking  the 
sufferers  to  accept  His  hard  decree  without  protest,  unless 
they  wish  Him  to  destroy  the  whole  world.  In  another 
place  again,  we  read  of  a  certain  renowned  Rabbi,  who 
lived  in  great  poverty,  that  once  in  a  dream  he  asked  the 
divine  Shechinah  how  long  he  would  have  still  to  endure 
this  bitter  privation  ?  The  answer  given  to  him  was  : 
"  My  son,  will  it  please  you  that  I  destroy  the  world  for 
your  sake  ? " 33  It  is  only  in  this  light  that  we  shall  be 
able  to  understand  such  passages  in  the  Rabbinic  litera- 
ture as  that  God  almost  suffers  Himself  when  He  has  to 
inflict  punishment  either  on  the  individual  or  on  whole 
communities.  Thus  God  is  represented  as  mourning  for 


THE    DOCTRINE    OF  DIVINE  RETRIBUTION 


229 


seven  days  (as  in  the  case  when  one  loses  a  child)  before 
He  brought  the  deluge  on  the  world ;  He  bemoans  the 
fall  of  Israel  and  the  destruction  of  the  Temple,  and  the 
Shechinah  laments  even  when  the  criminal  surfers  his  just 
punishment  And  it  is  not  by  rebelling  against  these 
laws  that  He  tries  to  redeem  His  suffering.  He  himself 
has  recourse  to  prayer,  and  says :  "  May  it  be  my  will 
that  my  mercy  conquer  my  wrath,  that  my  love  over-rule 
my  strict  justice,  so  that  I  may  treat  my  children  with 
love."  3*  If  now  man  is  equal  to  God,  he  has  nevertheless, 
or  rather  on  that  account,  to  submit  to  the  law  of  God 
without  any  outlook  for  reward  or  punishment;  or,  as 
Antigonos  expressed  it,  "  Be  not  as  slaves  that  minister  to 
the  Lord  with  a  view  to  receive  recompense."  ^  Certainly 
it  would  be  hazardous  to  maintain  that  Antigonos's  saying 
was  a  consequence  of  this  doctrine ;  but,  at  any  rate,  we 
see  a  clear  tendency  to  keep  the  thought  of  reward  (in 
spite  of  the  prominent  part  it  holds  in  the  Bible)  out  of 
view.  Still  more  clearly  is  it  seen  when,  with  reference 
to  Ps.  cxii.,  "  Blessed  is  the  man  .  .  .  that  delighteth 
greatly  in  his  commandments,"  Rabbi  Eleazar  remarks 
that  the  meaning  is  that  the  man  desires  only  to  do  His 
commandments,  but  he  does  not  want  the  rewards  con- 
nected with  them.36  This  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  the 
whole  contents  of  this  psalm  are  nothing  else  than  a  long 
series  of  promises  of  various  rewards,  so  that  the  explana- 
tion of  Rabbi  Eleazar  is  in  almost  direct  contradiction  to 
the  simple  meaning  of  the  words.  On  the  other  hand, 
also,  every  complaint  about  suffering  must  cease.  Not 
only  is  affliction  no  direct  chastisement  by  God  in  the 
way  of  revenge ;  but  even  when  it  would  seem  to  us  that 
we  suffer  innocently,  we  have  no  right  to  murmur,  as 


230  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

God  himself  is  also  suffering,  and,  as  the  Talmud  expresses 
it,  '  It  is  enough  for  the  slave  to  be  in  the  position  of  his 
master.'"37 

This  thought  of  the  compassion  —  in  its  strictest  sense 
of  fellow-suffering  —  of  God  with  His  creatures  becomes 
a  new  motive  for  avoiding  sin.  "  Woe  to  the  wicked," 
exclaims  a  Rabbi,  "who  by  their  bad  actions  turn  the 
mercy  of  God  into  strict  justice."  ^  And  the  later  mystics 
explain  distinctly  that  the  great  crime  of  sin  consists  in 
causing  pain,  so  to  speak,  to  the  Shechinah.  One  of 
them  compared  it  with  the  slave  who  abuses  the  goodness 
of  his  master  so  far  as  to  buy  with  his  money  arms  to 
wound  him.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  becomes,  rather 
inconsistently,  also  a  new  source  of  comfort;  for,  in  the 
end,  God  will  have  to  redeem  Himself  from  this  suffering, 
which  cannot  be  accomplished  so  long  as  Israel  is  still 
under  punishment.39  Most  interesting  is  the  noble  prayer 
by  a  Rabbi  of  a  very  late  mystical  school :  "  O  God, 
speedily  bring  about  the  redemption.  I  am  not  in  the 
least  thinking  of  what  I  may  gain  by  it.  I  am  willing  to 
be  condemned  to  all  tortures  in  hell,  if  only  the  Shechinah 
will  cease  to  suffer."40 

If  we  were  now  to  ask  for  the  attitude  of  the  Synagogue 
towards  these  two  main  views,  we  should  have  to  answer 
that — as  already  hinted  at  the  opening  of  this  paper  —  it 
never  decided  for  the  one  or  the  other.  R.  David  Rocca 
Martino  dared  even  to  write  a  whole  book  in  Defence  of 
Adam  proving  that  he  committed  no  sin  in  eating  the 
fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  against  the  literal  sense  of 
the  Scriptures,  which  were  also  taken  by  the  Rabbis 
literally.41  By  this  he  destroyed  the  prospects  of  many  a 
theodicy,  but  it  is  not  known  to  me  that  he  was  severely 


THE  DOCTRINE    OF  DIVINE  RETRIBUTION 


23I 


rebuked  for  it.  It  has  been  said  by  a  great  writer  that  the 
best  theology  is  that  which  is  not  consistent,  and  this  ad- 
vantage the  theology  of  the  Synagogue  possesses  to  its 
utmost  extent.  It  accepted  with  R.  Ammi  the  stern  prin- 
ciple of  divine  retribution,  in  as  far  as  it  makes  man  feel 
the  responsibility  of  his  actions,  and  makes  suffering  a 
discipline.  But  it  never  allowed  this  principle  to  be 
carried  so  far  as  to  deny  the  sufferer  our  sympathy,  and 
by  a  series  of  conscious  and  unconscious  modifications, 
he  passed  from  the  state  of  a  sinner  into  the  zenith  of  the 
saint  and  the  perfectly  righteous  man.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  Synagogue  also  gave  entrance  to  the  very  op- 
posite view  which,  abandoning  every  attempt  to  account 
for  suffering,  bids  man  do  his  duty  without  any  hope  of 
reward,  even  as  God  also  does  His.  Hence  the  remarkable 
phenomenon  in  the  works  of  later  Jewish  moralists,  that, 
whilst  they  never  weary  of  the  most  detailed  accounts  of 
the  punishments  awaiting  the  sinner  and  the  rewards  in 
store  for  the  righteous,  they  warn  us  most  emphatically 
that  our  actions  must  not  be  guided  by  these  unworthy 
considerations,  and  that  our  only  motive  should  be  the  love 
of  God  and  submission  to  His  holy  will. 

Nor  must  it  be  thought  that  the  views  of  the  Rabbis 
are  so  widely  divergent  from  those  enunciated  in  the 
Bible.  The  germ  of  almost  all  the  later  ideas  is  already 
to  be  found  in  the  Scriptures.  It  only  needed  the  proc- 
ess of  time  to  bring  into  prominence  those  features 
which  proved  at  a  later  period  most  acceptable.  Indeed, 
it  would  seem  that  there  is  also  a  sort  of  domestication 
of  religious  ideas.  On  their  first  association  with  man 
there  is  a  certain  rude  violence  about  them  which,  when 
left  to  the  management  of  untutored  minds,  would  cer- 


232  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

tainly  do  great  harm.  But,  let  only  this  association  last 
for  centuries,  during  which  these  ideas  have  to  be  sub- 
dued by  practical  use,  and  they  will,  in  due  time,  lose 
their  former  roughness,  will  become  theologically  work- 
able, and  turn  out  the  greatest  blessing  to  inconsistent 
humanity. 


IX 

THE   LAW   AND    RECENT   CRITICISM1 

PROFESSOR  TOY'S  work,  Judaism  and  Christianity,  gives 
an  admirable  conspectus  of  the  results  of  the  modern 
critical  school  in  their  bearing  on  the  genesis  of  Chris- 
tianity. The  author  takes  various  important  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  traces  them  back  to  their  origin  in  Israeli- 
tism,  pursues  their  course  through  their  various  phases 
in  Judaism,  until  they  reach  their  final  development  in 
the  teaching  of  Jesus  and  His  disciples,  which,  in  the 
author's  judgment,  is  the  consummation  of  that  which 
the  prophets  and  their  successors  had  to  give  to  the 
world.  Laying  so  much  stress  as  Professor  Toy  does  on 
the  saying,  "  By  their  fruits  shall  ye  know  them,"  he 
ought  also,  perhaps,  to  have  told  us  what,  in  the  course 
of  time,  has  become  of  these  several  doctrines.  For 
when,  for  instance,  with  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  origi- 
nal sin,  he  remarks  that  "  in  certain  systems  of  Christian 
theology  the  human  race  is  involved  in  the  condem- 
nation of  the  first  man"  (p.  185,  n.  i);  or  that,  in  the 
New  Testament,  "  the  demand  for  a  mediating  power  be- 
tween God  and  humanity  is  pushed  to  the  farthest  point 
which  thought  can  occupy  consistently  with  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  absoluteness  of  the  one  Supreme  Deity" 
(p.  121),  he  is  rather  evading  a  difficulty  than  answering 
it.  Such  elaboration  would,  however,  have  been  outside 

233 


234  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

the  scope  of  Professor  Toy's  book,  which  claims  only  to 
be  a  sketch  of  the  progress  of  thought  from  the  Old 
Testament  to  the  New.  For  his  own  solution  of  the 
indicated  difficulty,  Toy,  to  judge  from  his  liberal  stand- 
point, would  probably  refer  us  to  Dr.  Hatch's  Hibbert 
lectures ;  the  issue  of  such  an  appeal  must,  I  imagine, 
remain  for  long  doubtful  and  disputed. 

A  delightful  characteristic  of  Toy's  book  is  its  trans- 
parent clearness  and  sobriety,  which  will  make  it  inter- 
esting reading,  even  to  those  who  are  acquainted  with 
the  writer's  authorities  in  their  original  sources.  Almost 
entirely  new,  as  well  as  most  suggestive,  is  the  justice 
which  Toy  does  to  the  law  in  recognising  it  as  a  factor 
for  good  in  the  history  of  religion.  In  this  point  Toy  is 
not  only  up  to  his  date,  but  beyond  it.  It  is  true  that 
even  the  Pharisees  have  made  some  advance  in  the  esti- 
mation of  the  liberal  school.  They  are  no  longer  con- 
demned en  masse  as  so  many  hypocrites.  It  is  even 
admitted  that  there  were  a  few  honest  men  among 
them,  such  as  Rabban  Gamaliel,  the  teacher  of  Paul, 
or  R.  Akiba,  the  patriot  of  Bethar.  We  are  now  too 
polite  to  be  personal.  But  with  regard  to  the  law,  on 
the  other  hand,  there  is  at  present  a  markedly  opposite 
tendency.  The  general  idea  seems  to  be  that,  as  the 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  must  be  loosely 
interpreted  in  a  spiritual  sense,  it  must  logically  have 
been  preceded  by  a  universal  spiritual  death,  and  the 
germs  of  the  disease  which  brought  this  death  about 
are  to  be  sought  for  in  the  law.  Hence  the  strained 
efforts  to  discover  in  the  law  the  source  of  all  religious 
evil,  —  cant,  hypocrisy,  formalism,  externalism,  transcen- 
dentalism, and  as  many  "  isms  "  more,  of  bad  reputation. 


THE  LAW  AND  RECENT   CRITICISM 

It  was  probably  with  this  current  representation  of  the 
law  in  view  that  Toy,  when  speaking  of  the  Levitical  leg- 
islation, and  of  its  fixing  "  men's  minds  on  ceremonial 
details  which,  in  some  cases,  it  put  into  the  same  category 
and  on  the  same  level  with  moral  duties,"  asks  the  ques- 
tion :  "  Would  there  not  thence  result  a  dimming  of  the 
moral  sense  and  a  confusion  of  moral  distinctions  ?  The 
ethical  attitude  of  a  man  who  could  regard  a  failure  in  the 
routine  of  sacrifice  as  not  less  blameworthy  than  an  act  of 
theft  cannot  be  called  a  lofty  one"  (p.  186).  The  answer 
which  he  gives  is  more  favourable  than  such  a  leading 
question  would  induce  us  to  expect.  He  tells  us  that,  "in 
point  of  fact,  the  result  was  different  "  (ibid).  "The  Levit- 
ical law  is  not  to  be  looked  on  as  a  mere  extension  and 
organisation  of  the  ritual.  ...  Its  ritual  was,  in  great 
part,  the  organised  expression  of  the  consciousness  of  sin  " 
(p.  226).  Of  the  law  in  general  Toy  says  that  it  had 
"larger  consequences  than  its  mere  details  would  sug- 
gest," for  it  "cultivated  the  moral  sense  of  the  people 
into  results  above  its  mechanical  prescriptions,"  and  "it 
developed  the  sense  of  sin,  as  Paul  points  out "  (Gal.  iii. 
19),  "and  therewith  a  freer  feeling,  which  brought  the 
soul  into  more  immediate  contact  with  God "  (p.  227) ; 
whilst  in  another  place  he  reminds  us  "  that  much  of  the 
law  is  moral,  and  that  no  one  could  fail  to  see  a  spiritual 
significance  beneath  its  letter  "  (p.  245),  and  he  even  ad- 
mits that  "  the  great  legal  schools  which  grew  up  in  the 
second  century,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  sayings  of  the 
teachers  which  have  come  down  to  us,  did  not  fail  to  dis- 
criminate between  the  outward  and  the  inward,  the  cere- 
monial and  the  moral  "  (p.  186). 

These  and   similar   passages  will  suffice  to  show  that 


236  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Toy's  estimate  of  the  law  is  a  very  different  one  from  that 
of  Smend  and  his  school.  However,  it  must  not  be  sup- 
posed that  he  is  not  on  the  look-out  for  the  germs  of  the 
disease.  He  must  find  these  germs  somewhere,  or  else 
the  progress,  which  his  book  is  intended  to  illustrate, 
would  be  difficult  to  detect.  And  thus  he  repeats  the  old 
accusations,  though  not  without  modification. 

Professor  Toy's  objections  may,  perhaps,  be  summed  up 
in  the  passage  in  which  he  represents  the  Jewish  law  as 
"an  attempt  to  define  all  the  beliefs  and  acts  of  life" 
(p.  239),  or  as  "the  embodiment  of  devotion  to  a  fixed 
rule  of  belief  and  conduct"  (p.  237).  Toy  does  not 
entirely  condemn  this  system,  and  even  speaks  of  it  as  a 
"  lofty  attempt "  (p.  239) ;  but,  on  the  whole,  he  considers 
that  it  must  have  resulted  in  bad  theology,  as  well  as  in 
doubtful  conduct.  Without  following  Professor  Toy  over 
the  whole  area  of  his  investigations,  which  would  require 
a  volume  for  itself,  I  will  only  take  the  opportunity  of 
making  a  few  general  remarks  upon  the  nature  and 
character  of  this  legal  system,  which  seems  to  hold  the 
key  to  the  spiritual  history  of  Judaism. 

First,  as  to  its  theology,  Toy's  description  of  the  law  as 
an  attempt  to  define  all  the  beliefs  of  life  —  an  assertion 
which  is  also  made  by  Schiirer  —  is  not  wholly  accurate. 
For  such  an  attempt  was  never  made  by  Judaism.  The 
few  dogmas  which  Judaism  possesses,  such  as  the  Exist- 
ence of  God,  Providence,  Reward,  and  Punishment  — 
without  which  no  revealed  religion  is  conceivable  —  can 
hardly  be  called  a  creed  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  term, 
which  implies  something  external  and  foreign  to  man's 
own  knowledge,  and  received  only  in  deference  to  the 
weight  of  authority.  To  the  Jew  of  the  Christian  era, 


THE  LAW  AND  RECENT   CRITICISM  237 

these  simpler  dogmas  were  so  self-evident  that  it  would 
have  cost  him  the  greatest  effort  not  to  believe  them. 
Hence  the  fact  that,  whilst  there  have  come  down  to  us 
so  many  controverted  points  between  the  Sadducees  and 
Pharisees  with  regard  to  certain  juristic  and  ritual  ques- 
tions, we  know  of  only  one  of  an  essentially  dogmatic 
character,  viz.  the  dispute  concerning  the  Resurrection. 
It  is  thus  difficult  to  imagine  to  what  Professor  Toy  can 
be  alluding  when  he  speaks  of  the  "  interest  they  (the 
Jews)  threw  into  the  discussion  and  determination  of 
minutiae  of  faith"  (p.  241).  Discussions  upon  minutice 
of  faith  are  only  to  be  read  in  the  works  of  the  later 
schoolmen  (as  Saadiah,  Maimonides  and  their  followers), 
in  which  such  subtle  problems  as  Creatio  ex  nihilo,  the 
origin  of  evil,  predestination,  free  will  and  similar  subjects 
are  examined;  but  this  period  is  very  distant  from  that 
with  which  Toy  is  concerned.  The  older  schools  and 
the  so-called  houses  of  Shammai  and  Hillel,  most  of  whose 
members  were  the  contemporaries  of  the  Apostles,  show 
very  little  predilection  for  such  minutice.  Their  discus- 
sions and  differences  of  opinion  about  ritual  matters  are 
very  numerous,  scattered  as  they  are  over  the  whole  of 
the  ancient  Rabbinic  literature,  but  I  can  only  remember 
two  of  a  metaphysical  character,  or  touching  upon  the 
minutia  of  faith.  The  one,  dealing  with  the  efficacy  of 
certain  sacrifices,  discusses  whether  it  only  extends  to 
the  remission  of  the  pending  punishment  for  sins,  or  also 
includes  their  purification  and  washing  away;  the  other 
considers  the  question  whether  it  would  not  have  been 
better  for  man  not  to  have  been  created.2  But  this  latter 
controversy,  which  is  said  to  have  lasted  for  two  years 
and  a  half,  by  no  means  led  to  any  big  metaphysical  or 


238  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

theological  system,  but  only  to  the  practical  advice  that, 
as  we  have  been  created,  we  ought  to  be  watchful  over 
our  conduct.  It  is,  indeed,  a  noteworthy  feature  of  Juda- 
ism that  theological  speculations  have  never  resulted  in 
the  formulation  of  any  imposing  or  universal  doctrine,  but 
usually  in  divers  ceremonial  practices.  To  give  one  illus- 
tration:  according  to  Professor  Toy  (p.  210)  the  conclu- 
sion which  the  author  of  I  Tim.  ii.  11-14  draws  from  the 
fact  that  woman  was  the  immediate  agent  of  the  introduc- 
tion of  sin  was  the  subordination  of  her  sex.  The  Rabbis 
also  noticed  the  same  fact,  and  in  their  less  abstract  lan- 
guage speak  of  woman  as  having  brought  death  and  grief 
into  the  world ;  but  the  conclusion  which  they  drew  was 
that  since  woman  had  extinguished  the  "light  of  the 
world,"  she  ought  to  atone  for  it  by  lighting  the  candles 
for  the  Sabbath.3  Nor  is  Toy  quite  correct  when  he  main- 
tains that  the  conception  of  the  Memra  as  Creator  and 
Lord,  etc.,  and  as  "  representative  of  the  immediate  divine 
activity,"  did  not  keep  its  hold  on  Jewish  thought,  hav- 
ing been  discarded  in  the  later  literature  (p.  104).  For 
the  Shechinah  of  the  Talmud,  the  Metatron 4  of  the  Gaonic- 
mystical  literature,  the  Active  Intelligence  of  the  philosoph- 
ical schools,  as  well  as  the  Ten  Sephiroth  5  (Emanations) 
of  the  Cabbalists,  all  owe  their  existence  to  the  same  theo- 
sophic  scruples  and  subtleties  in  which  the  Logos  of  Philo 
and  the  Memra  6  of  the  Targums  originated.  Thus,  they 
always  kept  —  though  under  various  forms  —  their  hold 
on  the  Jewish  mind.  Judaism  was  always  broad  enough 
to  accommodate  itself  to  these  formulae,  which  for  the 
one  may  mean  the  most  holy  mysteries,  and  for  the  other 
empty  and  meaningless  catchwords.  The  objection  —  in 
fact,  the  active  opposition  —  of  the  Synagogue  began  when 


THE  LAW  AND  RECENT   CRITICISM 


239 


these  possible  or  impossible  explanations  of  the  universe 
tended  to  transgress  the  bounds  of  abstract  speculation, 
and,  passing  over  into  real  concrete  beings,  to  be  wor- 
shipped as  such.  An  instance  from  comparatively  modern 
times  might  be  found  in  one  of  the  vagaries  of  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  Pseudo-Messiah,  Shabbethai  Tsebi.  For 
many  generations  the  controversy  had  raged  among  the 
Cabbalists,  whether  the  first  of  the  above-mentioned  Ten 
Emanations  (called  by  some  Original  Adam,  by  others, 
Crown1}  is  to  be  considered  as  a  part  of  the  Deity  or 
as  something  separate,  and  so  to  speak,  having  a  reality 
in  itself.  The  danger  of  establishing  a  Being  near  the 
Deity,  having  an  existence  of  its  own  and  invested  with 
divine  attributes,  could  not  have  escaped  the  thoughtful, 
and  there  are  indeed  some  indications  to  this  effect.  The 
Synagogue  as  such,  however,  remained  during  the  whole 
controversy  strictly  neutral,  and  allowed  these  theosophists 
to  fight  in  the  air  as  much  as  they  liked.  But  the  moment 
that  the  sect  of  Shabbethai  Tsebi  identified  the  incarnate 
Original  Adam  with  their  leader,  and  worshipped  him  as 
a  sort  of  God-Messiah,  the  Synagogue  at  once  took  up 
a  hostile  attitude  against  those  who  separated  God  from 
His  world,  and,  declaring  Shabbethai  Tsebi  and  his  fol- 
lowers to  be  apostates,  excluded  them  from  Judaism  for 
ever. 

Nor  can  it  be  proved  that  legalism  or  nomism  has  ever 
tended  to  suppress  the  spiritual  side  of  religion,  either  in 
respect  of  consciousness  of  sin,  or  of  individual  love  and 
devotion.  With  an  equal  logic  quite  the  opposite  might 
be  argued.  Professor  Toy  tells  us  himself  that  it  is  no 
"  accident  that  along  with  this  more  definite  expression  of 
ethical-religious  law  we  find  the  first  traces  of  a  more 


240  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

spiritual  conception  of  righteousness  in  the  'new  heart' 
of  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel"  (p.  235),  whilst  in  another  pas- 
sage we  read  that  "a  turning  point  is  marked  by  the 
Deuteronomist  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel,  who  announce  the 
principles  of  individual  responsibility  and  inwardness  of 
obedience "  (p.  184).  Now,  two  things  are  certain;  first, 
that  Ezekiel  urges  the  necessity  of  the  new  heart  as  well  as 
of  individual  responsibility  more  keenly  than  any  of  his 
predecessors ;  secondly,  that  in  Ezekiel  the  legalistic  ten- 
dency is  more  evident  than  in  Deuteronomy  and  Jeremiah. 
The  logical  conclusion  would  thus  be  that  the  higher  ideals 
of  religion  are  not  only  not  inconsistent  with  legalism,  but 
are  the  very  outcome  of  it,  and  the  so-called  Priestly  Code, 
by  the  very  fact  of  its  markedly  legalistic  tendency, 
should  be  considered  as  a  step  in  the  right  direction.  The 
latter  assertion  sounds  like  a  paradox,  but  it  will  seem  less 
so  when  the  prevailing  characteristic  of  this  portion  of  the 
Pentateuch,  as  given  even  by  Kuenen,  who  is  by  no  means 
a  champion  of  the  Law,  is  borne  in  mind.  "  The  centre 
of  gravity,"  according  to  the  great  Dutch  critic,  "  lies  for 
the  priestly  author  elsewhere  than  for  the  prophet ;  it  lies 
in  man's  attitude,  not  towards  his  fellow-men,  but  towards 
God;  not  in  his  social,  but  in  his  personal  life"  (Hibbert 
Lectttres,  p.  161).  It  is  here  that  we  seem  to  strike  the 
keynote  of  the  Weltanschauung  of  the  Priestly  Legislation. 
In  it  man  is  more  than  a  social  being.  He  has  also  an 
individual  life  of  his  own,  his  joys  and  sorrows,  his  his- 
torical claims,  his  traditions  of  the  past,  and  his  hopes  for 
the  future  —  and  all  these  have  to  be  brought  under  the 
influence  of  religion,  and  to  become  sanctified  through 
their  relation  to  God.  Hence,  the  work  of  the  Priestly 
narrator  and  legislator  opens  with  a  cosmogony  of  his 


THE  LAW  AND   RECENT   CRITICISM  241 

own,  in  which  we  find  the  grand  theological  idea  of  man 
being  created  in  the  Divine  image;  hence,  too,  his  relig- 
ious conception  of  the  history  of  the  nation  and  the  con- 
trol claimed  by  him  over  all  the  details  of  human  life, 
which  became  with  him  so  many  opportunities  for  the 
worship  of  God.  To  him,  God  is  not  a  mere  figurehead ; 
He  not  only  reigns,  but  governs.  Everywhere,  —  in  the 
temple,  in  the  judge's  seat,  in  the  family,  in  the  farm,  and 
in  the  market-place,  —  His  presence  is  felt  in  enforcing 
the  laws  bearing  His  imprimatur,  "  J  am  the  Lord  thy 
God."  By  thus  diffusing  religion  over  the  whole  domain 
of  human  life  —  not  confining  it  to  the  social  institutions 
which  are  represented  only  by  a  few  personages,  such  as 
the  king,  the  princes,  the  priests,  the  judges  or  elders 
—  they  made  it  the  common  good  of  the  whole  people, 
and  the  feeling  of  personal  responsibility  for  this  good 
became  much  deeper  than  before.  Thus  it  came  to  pass 
that  whilst,  during  the  first  temple,  the  apostasy  of  kings 
and  aristocracy  involved  the  entire  people,  so  that  the 
words  "And  he  (the  king)  did  evil  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord,"  embrace  the  whole  nation,  during  the  second 
temple  it  was  no  longer  of  much  consequence  which  side 
the  political  leaders  took.  Both  during  the  Hellenistic 
persecutions,  as  well  as  afterwards  in  the  struggles  of 
some  Maccabean  kings  with  the  Pharisees,  the  bulk  of  the 
people  showed  that  they  considered  religion  as  their  own 
personal  affair,  not  to  be  regulated  by  the  conscience  of 
either  priest  or  prince.  It  is  true  that  this  success  may 
be  largely  ascribed  to  such  contemporary  religious  factors 
as  the  Synagogue  with  its  minimum  of  form,  the  Scribes 
with  their  activity  as  teachers,  and  the  Psalmists  with 
their  divine  enthusiasm;  but  the  very  circumstance  that 


242  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

these  factors  arose  and  flourished  under  the  influence  of 
the  Priestly  Code  would  suffice  to  prove  that  its  tendency 
was  not  so  sacerdotal  as  some  writers  would  have  us 
believe.  Jewish  tradition  indeed  attributes  the  composi- 
tion of  the  daily  public  prayers,  as  well  as  of  others  for 
private  worship,  to  the  very  men  whom  modern  biblical 
criticism  holds  responsible  for  the  introduction  of  the 
Priestly  Code.  Now  this  fact  may  perhaps  be  disputed, 
but  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  age  in  which  these 
prayers  were  composed  was  one  of  flourishing  legalism. 
Nor  is  there  any  proof  that  the  synagogues  and  their 
ritual  were  in  opposition  to  the  temple.  From  the  few 
documents  belonging  to  this  period,  it  is  clear  that  there 
was  no  opposition  to  the  legalistic  spirit  by  which  the 
Priestly  Code  was  actuated.  This  would  prove  that  legal- 
ism  meant  something  more  than  tithes  and  sacrifices  for 
the  benefit  of  the  priests. 

Nor  is  it  true  that  the  legal  tendency  aimed  at  narrowing 
the  mind  of  the  nation,  turning  all  its  thoughts  into  the  one 
direction  of  the  law.  Apart  from  the  fact  that  the  Torah 
contained  other  elements  besides  its  legalism,  the  prophets 
were  not  forgotten,  but  were  read  and  interpreted  from  a 
very  early  age.  It  was  under  the  predominance  of  the 
Law  that  the  Wisdom  literature  was  composed,  which  is 
by  no  means  narrow  or  one-sided,  but  is  even  supposed  by 
some  critics  to  contain  many  foreign  elements.  In  the 
book  of  Job,  the  great  problems  of  man's  existence  are 
treated  with  a  depth  and  grandeur  never  equalled  before 
or  since.  This  book  alone  ought  partly  to  compensate  the 
modern  school  for  the  disappearance  of  prophecy,  which 
is  usually  brought  as  a  charge  against  the  Law.  Then, 
too,  the  Psalms,  placed  by  the  same  school  in  the  post- 


THE  LAW  AND  RECENT   CRITICISM 


243 


exilic  period,  are  nothing  but  another  aspect  of  prophecy, 
with  this  difference,  perhaps,  that  in  the  Prophets  God 
speaks  to  man,  while  in  the  Psalms  it  is  man  who  estab- 
lishes the  same  communion  by  speaking  to  God.  There 
is  no  reason  why  the  critical  school,  with  its  broad  concep- 
tion of  inspiration,  and  with  its  insistence  that  prophecy 
does  not  mean  prediction,  should  so  strongly  emphasise 
this  difference.  If  "it  is  no  longer  as  in  the  days  of 
Amos,  when  the  Lord  Yahveh  did  nothing  without  reveal- 
ing his  counsel  to  his  servants  the  prophets,"  there  is  in 
the  days  of  the  Psalmists  nothing  in  man's  heart,  no  ele- 
ment in  his  longings  and  meditations  and  aspirations, 
which  was  not  revealed  to  God.  Nay,  it  would  seem  that 
at  times  the  Psalmist  hardly  ever  desires  the  revelation  of 
God's  secrets.  Let  future  events  be  what  they  may,  he  is 
content,  for  he  is  with  God.  After  all  his  trials,  he  ex- 
claims, "  And  yet  I  am  continually  with  thee ;  thou  hast 
taken  hold  of  my  right  hand.  According  to  thy  purpose 
wilt  thou  lead  me,  and  afterwards  receive  me  with  glory. 
Whom  have  I  (to  care  for)  in  heaven  ?  and  possessing 
thee,  I  have  pleasure  in  nothing  upon  earth.  Though  my 
flesh  and  my  heart  should  have  wasted  away,  God  would 
for  ever  be  the  rock  of  my  heart  and  my  portion  "  (Ps. 
Ixxiii.  23-26).  How  an  age  producing  a  literature  contain- 
ing passages  like  these  —  of  which  Wellhausen  in  his  Ab- 
riss  (p.  95)  justly  remarks,  that  we  are  not  worthy  even  to 
repeat  them  —  can  be  considered  by  the  modern  school  as 
wanting  in  intimate  relation  to  God  and  inferior  to  that  of 
the  prophets  is  indeed  a  puzzle. 

Now  a  few  words  as  to  the  actual  life  under  the  Law. 
Here,  again,  there  is  a  fresh  puzzle.  On  the  one  side,  we 
hear  the  opinions  of  so  many  learned  professors,  proclaim- 


244  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

ing  ex  cathedrd,  that  the  Law  was  a  most  terrible  burden, 
and  the  life  under  it  the  most  unbearable  slavery,  deaden- 
ing body  and  soul.  On  the  other  side  we  have  the  testi- 
mony of  a  literature  extending  over  about  twenty-five 
centuries,  and  including  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men, 
scholars,  poets,  mystics,  lawyers,  casuists,  schoolmen, 
tradesmen,  workmen,  women,  simpletons,  who  all,  from  the 
author  of  the  ngth  Psalm  to  the  last  pre-Mendelssohnian 
writer — with  a  small  exception  which  does  not  even  de- 
serve the  name  of  a  vanishing  minority  —  give  unanimous 
evidence  in  favour  of  this  Law,  and  of  the  bliss  and  hap- 
piness of  living  and  dying  under  it,  —  and  this,  the  testi- 
mony of  people  who  were  actually  living  under  the  Law, 
not  merely  theorising  upon  it,  and  who  experienced  it  in 
all  its  difficulties  and  inconveniences.  The  Sabbath  will 
give  a  fair  example.  The  law  of  the  Sabbath  is  one  of 
those  institutions  the  strict  observance  of  which  was  al- 
ready the  object  of  attack  in  early  New  Testament  times. 
Nevertheless,  the  doctrine  proclaimed  in  one  of  the  Gos- 
pels —  that  the  son  of  man  is  Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath  — 
was  also  current  among  the  Rabbis.  They,  too,  taught 
that  the  Sabbath  had  been  delivered  into  the  hand  of  man 
(to  break,  if  necessary),  and  not  man  delivered  over  to  the 
Sabbath.8  And  they  even  laid  down  the  axiom  that  a 
scholar  who  lived  in  a  town,  where  among  the  Jewish  pop- 
ulation there  could  be  the  least  possibility  of  doubt  as  to 
whether  the  Sabbath  might  be  broken  for  the  benefit  of  a 
dangerously  sick  person,  was  to  be  despised  as  a  man  neg- 
lecting his  duty ;  for,  as  Maimonides  points  out,  the  laws 
of  the  Torah  are  not  meant  as  an  infliction  upon  mankind, 
"but  as  mercy,  loving-kindness,  and  peace."9 

The  attacks  upon  the  Jewish  Sabbath  have  not  abated 


THE  LAW  AND  RECENT   CRITICISM  245 

with  the  lapse  of  time.  The  day  is  still  described  by 
almost  every  Christian  writer  on  the  subject  in  the  most 
gloomy  colours,  and  long  lists  are  given  of  minute  and 
easily  transgressed  observances  connected  with  it,  which, 
instead  of  a  day  of  rest,  would  make  it  to  be  a  day  of 
sorrow  and  anxiety,  almost  worse  than  the  Scotch  Sun- 
day as  depicted  by  continental  writers.  But  it  so  happens 
that  we  have  the  prayer  of  R.  Zadok,  a  younger  contem- 
porary of  the  Apostles,  which  runs  thus :  "  Through  the 
love  with  which  Thou,  O  Lord  our  God,  lovest  Thy  people 
Israel,  and  the  mercy  which  Thou  hast  shown  to  the 
children  of  Thy  covenant,  Thou  hast  given  unto  us  in  love 
this  great  and  holy  Seventh  Day."  10  And  another  Rabbi, 
who  probably  flourished  in  the  first  half  of  the  second 
century,  expresses  himself  (with  allusion  to  Exod.  xxxi.  13  : 
Verily  my  Sabbaths  ye  shall  keep  .  .  .  that  ye  may  know 
that  I  am  the  Lord  that  doth  sanctify  you)  —  "The  Holy 
One,  blessed  be  He,  said  unto  Moses,  I  have  a  good  gift 
in  my  treasures,  and  Sabbath  is  its  name,  which  I  wish 
to  present  to  Israel.  Go  and  bring  to  them  the  good 
tidings."11  The  form  again  of  the  Blessing  over  the 
Sanctification-cup 12  —  a  ceremony  known  long  before  the 
destruction  of  the  Second  Temple  —  runs :  "  Blessed  art 
Thou,  O  Lord  our  God,  who  hast  sanctified  us  by  Thy 
commandments,  and  hast  taken  pleasure  in  us,  and  in  love 
and  grace  hast  given  us  Thy  holy  Sabbath  as  an  inheri- 
tance." All  these  Rabbis  evidently  regarded  the  Sabbath 
as  a  gift  from  heaven,  an  expression  of  the  infinite  mercy 
and  grace  of  God  which  He  manifested  to  His  beloved 
children. 

And  the  gift  was,  as  already  said,,  a  good  gift.     Thus 
the  Rabbis  paraphrase  the  words  in  the  Scripture  "  See, 


246  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

for  that  the  Lord  hath  given  you  the  Sabbath  "  (Exod.  xvi. 
29) :  God  said  unto  Israel  behold  the  gem  I  gave  you,  My 
children  I  gave  you  the  Sabbath  for  your  good.  Sanctify 
or  honour  the  Sabbath  by  choice  meals,  beautiful  garments ; 
delight  your  soul  with  pleasure  and  I  will  reward  you  (for 
this  very  pleasure) ;  as  it  is  said  :  "  And  if  thou  wilt  call 
the  Sabbath  a  delight  and  the  holy  of  the  Lord  honourable 
(that  is  honouring  the  Sabbath  in  this  way)  .  .  .  then 
shalt  thou  delight  thyself  in  the  Lord"  (Is.  Iviii.  13,  I4>13 
The  delight  of  the  Sabbath  was  keenly  felt.  Israel 
fell  in  love  with  the  Sabbath,  and  in  the  hyperbolic  lan- 
guage of  the  Agadah  the  Sabbath  is  personified  as  the 
"Bride  of  Israel,"  whilst  others  called  it  "  Queen  Sab- 
bath," 14  and  they  are  actually  jealous  of  a  certain  class 
of  semi-proselytes  who,  as  it  seems,  were  willing  to  ob- 
serve the  Sabbath,  but  declined  to  submit  to  the  cove- 
nant of  Abraham.  The  Gentile  Sabbath-keepers — who, 
like  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  envy  Israel  their  Sab- 
bath—  the  Rabbis  considered  as  shameless  intruders  de- 
serving punishment.15  No,  it  was  Israel's  own  Queen  or 
Bride  Sabbath  whose  appearance  in  all  her  heavenly 
glory  they  were  impatiently  awaiting.  Thus  we  are  told 
of  R.  Judah  b.  Ilai  that  when  the  eve  of  the  Sabbath 
came  "  he  made  his  ablutions,  wrapped  himself  up  in  his 
white  linen  with  fringed  borders  looking  like  an  angel  of 
the  Lord  of  Hosts,"  thus  prepared  for  the  solemn  recep- 
tion of  Queen  Sabbath.  Another  Rabbi  used  to  put  on 
his  best  clothes,  and  arise  and  invite  the  Sabbath  with 
the  words :  "  Come  in  Bride,  come  in." 16  What  the  Bride 
brought  was  peace  and  bliss.  Nay,  man  is  provided  with 
a  super  soul  for  the  Sabbath,  enabling  him  to  bear  both 
the  spiritual  and  the  material  delights  of  the  day  with 


THE  LAW  AND  RECENT  CRITICISM  247 

dignity  and  solemnity.17  The  very  light  (or  expression) 
of  man's  face  is  different  on  Sabbath,  testifying  to  his 
inward  peace  and  rest.  And  when  man  has  recited  his 
prayers  (on  the  eve  of  the  Sabbath)  and  thus  borne  tes- 
timony to  God's  creation  of  the  world  and  to  the  glory 
of  the  Sabbath,  there  appear  the  two  angels  who  accom- 
pany him,  lay  their  hands  on  his  head  and  impart  to 
him  their  blessing  with  the  words :  "  And  thine  iniquity 
is  taken  away  and  thy  sin  purged"  (Is.  vi.  /).18  For 
nothing  is  allowed  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  Sabbath; 
not  even  "the  sorrows  of  sin,"  though  the  Sabbath  had 
such  a  solemn  effect  on  people  that  even  the  worldly 
man  would  not  utter  an  untruth  on  the  Day  of  the  Lord. 
Hence  it  was  not  only  forbidden  to  pray  on  Sabbath  for 
one's  own  (material)  needs,  but  everything  in  the  liturgy 
of  a  mournful  character  (as  for  instance  the  confession 
of  sin,  supplication  for  pardon)  was  carefully  avoided.  It 
was  with  difficulty,  as  the  Rabbis  say,  that  they  made 
an  exception  in  the  case  of  condoling  with  people  who 
had  suffered  loss  through  the  death  of  near  relatives. 
There  is  no  room  for  morbid  sentiment  on  Sabbath,  for 
the  blessing  of  the  Lord  maketh  rich,  and  He  addeth 
no  sorrow  with  it  (Prov.  x.  22).19  The  burden  of  the 
Sabbath  prayers  is  for  peace,  rest,  sanctincation,  and  joy 
(through  salvation)  and  praise  of  God  for  this  ineffable 
bliss  of  the  Sabbath. 

Such  was  the  Sabbath  of  the  old  Rabbis  and  the 
same  spirit  continued  through  all  ages.  The  Sabbath 
was  and  is  still  celebrated  by  the  people  who  did  and 
do  observe  it,  in  hundreds  of  hymns,  which  would  fill  vol- 
umes, as  a  day  of  rest  and  joy,  of  pleasure  and  delight, 
a  day  in  which  man  enjoys  some  foretaste  of  the  pure 


248  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

bliss  and  happiness  which  are  stored  up  for  the  righteous 
in  the  world  to  come.  Somebody,  either  the  learned 
professors,  or  the  millions  of  the  Jewish  people,  must 
be  under  an  illusion.  Which  it  is  I  leave  to  the  reader 
to  decide. 

It  is  also  an  illusion  to  speak  of  the  burden  which  a 
scrupulous  care  to  observe  six  hundred  and  thirteen  com- 
mandments must  have  laid  upon  the  Jew.  Even  a  super- 
ficial analysis  will  discover  that  in  the  time  of  Christ 
many  of  these  commandments  were  already  obsolete  (as 
for  instance  those  relating  to  the  tabernacle  and  to  the 
conquest  of  Palestine),  while  others  concerned  only  cer- 
tain classes,  as  the  priests,  the  judges,  the  soldiers,  the 
Nazirites,  or  the  representatives  of  the  community,  or 
even  only  one  or  two  individuals  among  the  whole  popu- 
lation, as  the  King  and  the  High-Priest.  Others,  again, 
provided  for  contingencies  which  could  occur  only  to  a 
few,  as  for  instance  the  laws  concerning  divorce  or 
levirate  marriages,  whilst  many  —  such  as  those  concern- 
ing idolatry,  and  incest,  and  the  sacrifice  of  children  to 
Moloch  —  could  scarcely  have  been  considered  as  a  prac- 
tical prohibition  by  the  pre-Christian  Jew;  just  as  little 
as  we  can  speak  of  Englishmen  as  lying  under  the 
burden  of  a  law  preventing  them  from  burning  widows 
or  marrying  their  grandmothers,  though  such  acts  would 
certainly  be  considered  as  crimes.  Thus  it  will  be  found 
by  a  careful  enumeration  that  barely  a  hundred  laws 
remain  which  really  concerned  the  life  of  the  bulk  of 
the  people.  If  we  remember  that  even  these  include 
such  laws  as  belief  in  the  unity  of  God,  the  necessity  of 
loving  and  fearing  Him,  and  of  sanctifying  His  name, 
of  loving  one's  neighbour  and  the  stranger,  of  providing 


THE  LAW  AND  RECENT  CRITICISM 


249 


for  the  poor,  exhorting  the  sinner,  honouring  one's 
parents  and  many  more  of  a  similar  character,  it  will 
hardly  be  said  that  the  ceremonial  side  of  the  people's 
religion  was  not  well  balanced  by  a  fair  amount  of 
spiritual  and  social  elements.  Besides,  it  would  seem 
that  the  line  between  the  ceremonial  and  the  spiritual 
is  too  often  only  arbitrarily  drawn.  With  many  com- 
mandments it  is  rather  a  matter  of  opinion  whether  they 
should  be  relegated  to  the  one  category  or  the  other. 

Thus,  the  wearing  of  Tephillin20  or  phylacteries  has, 
on  the  one  hand,  been  continually  condemned  as  a  mean- 
ingless superstition,  and  a  pretext  for  formalism  and 
hypocrisy.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  Maimonides,  who 
can  in  no  way  be  suspected  of  superstition  or  mysti- 
cism, described  their  importance  in  the  following  words : 
"  Great  is  the  holiness  of  the  Tephillin ;  for  as  long  as 
they  are  on  the  arm  and  head  of  man  he  is  humble  and 
God-fearing,  and  feels  no  attraction  for  frivolity  or  idle 
things,  nor  has  he  any  evil  thoughts,  but  will  turn  his 
heart  to  the  words  of  truth  and  righteousness."  The 
view  which  R.  Johanan,  a  Palestinian  teacher  of  the 
third  century,  took  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  Law,  will 
probably  be  found  more  rational  than  that  of  many  a 
rationalist  of  to-day.  Upon  the  basis  of  the  last  verse 
in  Hosea,  "The  ways  of  the  Lord  are  right,  and  the 
just  shall  walk  in  them,  but  the  transgressors  shall  fall 
therein,"  he  explains  that  while  one  man,  for  instance, 
eats  his  paschal  lamb  with  the  purpose  of  doing  the 
will  of  God  who  commanded  it,  and  thereby  does  an  act 
of  righteousness,  another  thinks  only  of  satisfying  his 
appetite  by  the  lamb,  so  that  his  eating  it  (by  the  very 
fact  that  he  professes  at  the  same  time  to  perform  a  relig- 


250  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

ious  rite)  becomes  a  stumbling-block  for  him.21  Thus  all 
the  laws  by  virtue  of  their  divine  authority  —  and  in  this 
there  was  in  the  first  century  no  difference  of  opinion 
between  Jews  and  Christians  —  have  their  spiritual  side, 
and  to  neglect  them  implies,  at  least  from  the  individual's 
own  point  of  view,  a  moral  offence. 

The  legalistic  attitude  may  be  summarily  described  as 
an  attempt  to  live  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  God,  car- 
ing less  for  what  God  is  than  for  what  He  wants  us  to  be. 
But,  nevertheless,  on  the  whole  this  life  never  degenerated 
into  religious  formalism.  Apart  from  the  fact  that  during 
the  second  temple  there  grew  up  laws,  and  even  beliefs, 
which  show  a  decided  tendency  towards  progress  and 
development,  there  were  also  ceremonies  which  were  popu- 
lar with  the  masses,  and  others  which  were  neglected.  Men 
were  not,  therefore,  the  mere  soulless  slaves  of  the  Law ; 
personal  sympathies  and  dislikes  also  played  a  part  in 
their  religion.  Nor  were  all  the  laws  actually  put  upon 
the  same  level.  With  a  happy  inconsistency  men  always 
spoke  of  heavier  and  slighter  sins,  and  by  the  latter  — 
excepting,  perhaps,  the  profanation  of  the  Sabbath  —  they 
mostly  understood  ceremonial  transgressions.  The  state- 
ment made  by  Professor  Toy  (p.  243),  on  the  authority  of 
James  (ii.  10),  that  "  the  principle  was  established  that  he 
who  offended  in  one  point  was  guilty  of  all,"  is  hardly  cor- 
rect; for  the  passage  seems  rather  to  be  laying  down  a 
principle,  or  arguing  that  logically  the  law  ought  to  be 
looked  upon  as  a  whole,  than  stating  a  fact.  The  fact 
was  that  people  did  not  consider  the  whole  law  as  of  equal 
importance,  but  made  a  difference  between  laws  and  laws, 
and  even  spoke  of  certain  commandments,  such  as  those 
of  charity  and  kindness,  as  outweighing  all  the  rest  of  the 


THE  LAW  AND  RECENT  CRITICISM  2$l 

Torah.  It  was  in  conformity  with  this  spirit  that  in 
times  of  great  persecution  the  leaders  of  the  people  had 
no  compunction  in  reducing  the  whole  Law  to  the  three 
prohibitions  of  idolatry,  of  incest,  and  of  bloodshed.  Only 
these  three  were  considered  of  sufficient  importance 
that  men  should  rather  become  martyrs  than  transgress 
them. 

These,  then,  are  some  of  the  illusions  and  misrepresen- 
tations which  exist  with  regard  to  the  Law.  There  are 
many  others,  of  which  the  complete  exposure  would  re- 
quire a  book  by  itself.  Meanwhile,  in  the  absence  of 
such  a  book  to  balance  and  correct  the  innumerable  vol- 
umes upon  the  other  side,  Professor  Toy  has  done  the 
best  he  could  with  existing  materials,  and  produced  a 
meritorious  work  deserving  of  wide  recognition  and 
approval. 


X 


THE   HEBREW   COLLECTION   OF  THE 
BRITISH    MUSEUM 

THE  Hebrew  collection  in  the  British  Museum  forms 
one  of  the  greatest  centres  of  Jewish  thought.  It  is  only 
surpassed  by  the  treasures  which  are  contained  in  the 
Bodleian  Library  at  Oxford.  The  fame  of  these  magnifi- 
cent collections  has  spread  far  and  wide.  It  has  pene- 
trated into  the  remotest  countries,  and  even  the  Bachurim 
(alumni)  of  some  obscure  place  in  Poland,  who  otherwise 
neither  care  nor  know  anything  about  British  civilisation, 
have  a  dim  notion  of  the  nature  of  these  mines  of  Jewish 
learning. 

All  sorts  of  legends  circulate  amongst  them  about  the 
"  millions  "  of  books  which  belong  to  the  "  Queen  of  Eng- 
land." They  speak  mysteriously  of  an  autograph  copy  of 
the  Book  of  Proverbs,  presented  to  the  Queen  of  Sheba  on 
the  occasion  of  her  visit  to  Jerusalem,  and  brought  by  the 
English  troops  as  a  trophy  from  their  visit  to  Abyssinia, 
which  is  still  ruled  by  the  descendants  of  that  famous  lady. 
They  also  talk  of  a  copy  of  the  Talmud  of  Jerusalem 
which  once  belonged  to  Titus,  afterwards  to  a  Pope,  was 
presented  by  the  latter  to  a  Russian  Czar,  and  taken  away 
from  him  by  the  English  in  the  Crimean  war ;  of  a  manu- 

252 


BRITISH  MUSEUM  HEBREW  COLLECTION         253 

script  of  the  book  Light  is  Sown}  which  is  so  large  that 
no  shelf  can  hold  it,  and  which  therefore  hangs  on  iron 
chains.  How  they  long  to  have  a  glance  at  these  pre- 
cious things !  Would  not  a  man  get  wiser  only  by  looking 
at  the  autograph  of  the  wisest  of  men  ? 

But  even  the  students  of  Germany  and  Austria,  who  are 
inaccessible  to  such  fables,  and  by  the  aid  of  Zedner's, 
Steinschneider's,  and  Neubauer's  catalogues  have  a  fair 
notion  of  our  libraries,  cherish  the  belief  that  they  would 
gain  in  scholarship  and  wisdom  by  examining  these  grand 
collections.  How  often  have  I  been  asked  by  Jewish  stu- 
dents abroad  :  "  Have  you  really  been  to  the  British  Mu- 
seum ?  Have  you  really  seen  this  or  that  rare  book  or 
manuscript  ?  Had  you  not  great  difficulties  in  seeing 
them  ?  Is  not  the  place  where  these  heaps  of  jewels  are 
treasured  up  always  crowded  by  students  and  visitors  ?  " 

Yet  how  little  does  our  English  public  know  of  these 
wonderful  things !  We  are  fairly  interested  in  Graeco- 
Roman  art.  We  betray  much  curiosity  about  the  different 
Egyptian  dynasties.  We  look  with  admiration  at  the 
cuneiform  inscriptions  in  the  Nimrod  room.  We  do  not 
even  grudge  a  glance  at  the  abominable  idols  of  the  sav- 
age tribes.  But  as  to  the  productions  of  Jewish  genius, 
—  well,  it  is  best  to  quote  here  the  words  of  Heine,  who 
ridiculed  this  indifference  to  everything  that  is  Jewish, 
in  the  following  lines  :  — 

Alte  Mumien,  ausgestopfte, 
Pharaonen  von  ^Egypten, 
Merowinger  SchattenkbVge, 
Ungepuderte  Periicken, 

Auch  die  Zopfmonarchen  China's 
Porzellanpagodenkaiser — 


254  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Alle  lernen  sie  auswendig, 
Kluge  Ma'dchen,  aber,  Himmel! 

Fragt  man  sie  nach  grossen  Namen, 
Aus  dem  grossen  Goldzeitalter 
Der  arabisch-althispanisch 
Judischen  Poetenschule, 

Fragt  man  nach  dem  Dreigestirn 
Nach  Jehuda  ben  Halevy,  • 
Nach  dem  Salomon  Gabirol 
Und  dem  Moses  Iben  Esra. 

Fragt  man  nach  dergleichen  Namen, 
Dann  mit  grossen  Augen  schaun 
Uns  die  Kleinen  an  —  alsdann 
Stehn  am  Berge  die  Ochsinnen. 

Now  Heine  goes  on  to  advise  his  beloved  one  to  study 
the  Hebrew  language.  It  would  be  indeed  the  best  rem- 
edy against  this  indifference.  But  this  is  so  radical  a  cure 
that  one  cannot  hope  that  it  will  be  made  use  of  by  many. 
A  few  remarks  in  English,  trying  to  give  some  notion  of 
the  Hebrew  collection  in  the  British  Museum,  may,  there- 
fore, not  be  considered  altogether  superfluous. 

The  Hebrew  collection  in  the  Museum  may  be  divided 
into  two  sections  :  Printed  Books,  and  Manuscripts.  The 
number  of  the  printed  books  amounted  in  the  year  1867, 
in  which  Zedner  concluded  his  catalogue,  to  10,100  vol- 
umes. Within  the  last  twenty-eight  years  about  5000 
more  have  been  added. 

This  enormous  collection  has  grown  out  of  very  small 
beginnings.  The  British  Museum  was  first  opened  to  the 
public  in  the  year  1759.  Amongst  the  500,000  volumes 
which  it  possessed  at  that  time  only  a  single  Jewish  work, 
the  editio princeps  of  the  Talmud  (Bomberg,  Venice,  1520- 


BRITISH  MUSEUM  HEBREW   COLLECTION 


255 


1523)  was  to  be  found  on  its  shelves.  According  to  an 
article  by  Zedner  in  the  Hebraische  Bibliographic  (ii.  p. 
88),  this  copy  of  the  Talmud  once  belonged  to  Henry 
VIII.  But  very  soon  the  Museum  was  enriched  by  a 
small  collection  of  Hebrew  books,  presented  to  it  by  Mr. 
Solomon  da  Costa,  surnamed  Athias,  who  had  emigrated 
to  England  from  Holland.  The  translation  of  the  He- 
brew letter  with  which  the  donor  accompanied  his  pres- 
ent to  the  Trustees  of  the  Museum  was  first  published  in 
the  Gentleman  s  Magazine,  February  1760,  and  was  after- 
wards republished  by  the  Rev.  A.  L.  Green,  in  an  article 
in  the  Jewish  Chronicle,  1859.  I  shall  only  reproduce 
here  the  passage  relating  to  the  history  of  this  collection. 
After  expressing  his  gratitude  to  the  "crowning  city,  the 
city  of  London,  in  which  he  dwelt  for  fifty-four  years  in 
ease  and  quietness  and  safety,"  and  telling  us  that  he 
bequeaths  these  books  to  the  British  nation  as  a  token  of 
his  gratitude,  Da  Costa  proceeds  to  say  that  they  are  180 
books,  which  had  been  gathered  and  bound  for  Charles 
II.,  with  valuable  bindings  and  marked  with  the  king's 
own  cipher.  These  books  were  intended  as  a  present 
from  the  London  Jewish  community  to  Charles  for  certain 
privileges  which  he  had  bestowed  on  them.  The  sudden 
death  of  the  king  seems  to  have  frustrated  the  intention 
of  the  first  donors.  The  books  were  scattered,  and  Da 
Costa  had  to  collect  them  again. 

Small  as  this  collection  is,  it  is  most  valuable^on  account 
of  its  including  many  early  editions  of  Venice,  Constanti- 
nople, Naples,  etc.  The  original  letter  of  Da  Costa,  with 
a  full  list  of  the  180  books,  is  preserved  in  a  MS.  in  the 
British  Museum  (Additional,  4710-11). 

Of  still  greater  importance  is  the  Michaelis  collection. 


256 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 


It  consists  of  4420  volumes,  and  was  bought  by  the  Trus- 
tees of  the  Museum  in  1848.  Other  successive  acquisi- 
tions, especially  the  purchase  of  a  large  number  of  printed 
books  from  the  Almanzi  collection,  brought  the  Museum 
into  possession  of  one  of  the  most  complete  and  one  of 
the  largest  Hebrew  libraries  in  the  world. 

After  the  foregoing  remarks  on  the  quantity  of  this 
collection,  I  shall  now  attempt  to  give  some  idea  of  its 
quality.  The  following  table,  taken  from  the  Preface  of 
Zedner's  Catalogue,  shows  its  manifold  contents :  — 


1.  Bibles 1260 

2.  Commentaries    on     the 

Bible 510 

3.  Talmud 730 

4.  Commentaries     on    the 

Talmud 700 

5.  Codes  of  Law.     .     .     .  1260 

6.  Decisions 520 

7.  Midrash 160  - 


8.  Cabbalah 460 

9.  Sermons 400 

10.  Liturgies 1200 

1 1 .  Divine  Philosophy  .     .  690 

12.  Scientific  works  ...  180 

13.  Grammars,  Dictionaries  450 

14.  History,  Geography     .  320 

15.  .Poetry,  Criticism     .     .  770 


The  reader  can  see  that  almost  every  branch  of  human 
thought,  religious  and  secular,  is  amply  represented  in 
this  collection.  Looking  at  this  table  from  a  geographical 
point  of  view,  we  may  perhaps  classify  the  authors  in  the 
following  way:  —  France  and  Germany  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  Poland  and  the  East  in  modern  times,  are  repre- 
sented by  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  classes.  The  Rabbis 
of  Spain  argd  Italy  would  probably  excel  in  the  last  five 
classes.  In  the  productions  of  classes  eight  and  nine  all 
the  before-mentioned  countries  would  have  an  equal  share. 
English  Judaism,  by  reason  of  its  large  number  of  occa- 
sional prayers  and  wedding  hymns  (Zedner,  pp.  472,  652), 
may  perhaps  be  represented  in  the  last  class  (criticism 


BRITISH  MUSEUM  HEBREW  COLLECTION 

excluded).  We  in  England  are  a  pious,  devotional  people, 
and  leave  the  thinking  to  others. 

But  what  is  still  more  welcome  to  the  student  is  the  fact 
that  all  these  branches  of  Jewish  learning  are  represented 
in  the  British  Museum  by  the  best  editions.  It  would  be 
a  rather  tedious  task  to  enumerate  here  all  the  early  edi- 
tions of  which  this  collection  can  boast.  There  is  hardly 
any  Hebrew  book  of  importance  from  the  Bible  down  to 
the  Code  of  R.  Joseph  Caro  of  which  the  Museum  does 
not  possess  the  first  printed  edition.  There  are  also  many 
books  and  editions  in  the  Museum  of  which  no  second 
copy  is  known  to  be  in  existence.  An  enumeration  of 
these  rare  books  and  editions  would  require  long  lists,  the 
perusal  of  which  would  be  rather  trying.  But  I  shall  say 
a  few  words  to  show  the  importance  of  such  early  editions 
for  the  student.  They  possess,  first,  the  advantage  of 
being  free  from  the  misprints  which  crept  in  with  every 
fresh  republication.  The  art  of  editing  books  in  a  correct 
and  scientific  way  is  of  a  very  recent  date.  And  even 
Hebrew  literature  does  not  find  that  support  from  the 
public  which  would  enable  scholars  to  edit  Jewish  books 
in  such  a  way  as  Roman  and  Greek  classics  are  prepared 
by  Oxford  and  Cambridge  students.  A  new  edition  of  a 
Hebrew  book  meant  therefore  an  addition  of  new  mistakes 
and  misprints.  And  it  is  only  by  examining  the  editiones 
principes  that  the  scholar  finds  his  way  out  of  these 
perplexities. 

Another  advantage  is  the  fact  that  these  early  editions 
escaped  the  hand  of  the  censor,  whose  office  was  not  intro- 
duced till  a  comparatively  late  date.  The  same  advantage 
is  also  possessed  by  the  Hebrew  books  published  at  Con- 
stantinople, Salonica,  and  other  Mohammedan  cities.  Only 


258  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Christian  countries  indulged  in  the  barbarous  pleasure  of 
burning  and  disfiguring  Jewish  books.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  touching  points  in  the  life  of  R.  David  Oppenheim, 
of  Prague,  who  spent  all  his  life  and  fortune  in  collecting 
Hebrew  works,  and  whose  collection  now  forms  one  of  the 
greatest  ornaments  of  the  Bodleian  Library,  that  he  was 
not  allowed  by  the  censor  to  enjoy  the  use  of  his  treasures. 
He  had  to  put  them  under  the  protection  of  Lipman  Cohen, 
his  father-in-law  in  Hanover,  many  hundreds  of  miles  from 
his  own  home.  With  the  exception  of  the  Bible  hardly 
any  Jewish  books  escaped  mutilation.  In  certain  Chris- 
tian countries  some  books  were  not  allowed  to  be  published 
at  all ;  of  others,  again,  whole  chapters  had  to  be  omitted, 
while  of  others  many  passages  had  to  be  expunged.  The 
words  Roman,  Greek,  Gentile,  were  strictly  forbidden,  and 
had  to  be  changed  into  Turks,  Arabs,  Samaritans,  or  wor- 
shippers of  the  stars  and  planets.  One  can  imagine  what 
confusion  such  stupid  alterations  caused.  Fancy  what 
blunders  would  have  been  committed  in  history  if  the  old 
chroniclers  had  been  compelled  to  change  the  Pope  into 
the  Grand  Turk  or  the  Shah  of  Persia,  the  Christian  rulers 
into  as  many  califs  and  pashas,  or  Rome  and  Athens  into 
Pekin  and  Mecca ! 

It  may  perhaps  be  interesting  to  learn  that  Jews  some- 
times imitated  their  bitter  enemies  in  this  work  of  mutila- 
tion. Thus  in  the  later  editions  of  the  Book  of  Genealogies 
by  Abraham  Zacuto,2  a  passage  was  left  out  reproducing 
the  evidence  given  by  the  widow  of  Moses  de  Leon  to  the 
effect  that  the  cabbalistic  work,  the  Zohar,  was  a  forgery 
manufactured  by  her  poor  dear  husband.  Another  omis- 
sion of  this  kind  is  to  be  found  in  the  Code  of  R.  Joseph 
Caro,  mentioned  above.  Here  the  earliest  editions  declare, 


BRITISH  MUSEUM  HEBREW  COLLECTION 


259 


in  the  heading  of  section  605,  "  a  certain  religious  usage  " 
to  be  "  a  custom  of  folly."  In  the  republications,  the  last 
three  words  were  left  out.  From  such  nonsensical  omis- 
sions and  changes  only  the  earliest  editions,  which  are 
abundant  in  the  Museum,  were  exempt. 

A  remarkable  feature  about  the  books  of  this  Hebrew 
collection  also  is  that  many  of  them  are  provided  in  the 
margin  with  manuscript  notes  by  their  former  possessors. 
These  often  happen  to  bear  very  great  names  in  literature. 
I  shall  only  mention  here  R.  Jacob  Emden,  Almanzi, 
Michael,  Gerundi,  and  Heidenheim.  Of  the  works  writ- 
ten by  R.  Jacob  Emden,  the  Museum  possesses  an  almost 
complete  author's  copy  with  abundant  corrections,  notes, 
and  emendations  by  the  author  himself.  His  works  are 
still  very  popular  among  Polish  and  Russian  Jews,  espe- 
cially his  Prayer-Book,  and  his  Responses.  It  would  be 
advisable  for  publishers  in  these  countries  to  avail  them- 
selves of  this  copy  on  the  occasion  of  a  new  edition.  Of 
Christian  scholars  I  should  name  here  Isaac  Casaubon.  A 
rather  amusing  mistake  occurs  in  Ben-Jacob's  Treasure  of 
Books  in  connection  with  this  name.  Among  the  many 
valuable  copies  of  Kimchi's  grammatical  work  Perfection? 
possessed  by  the  Museum,  there  is  included  one  which 
belonged  to  Casaubon,  and  is  full  of  notes  by  him.  The 
author  of  the  Treasure  speaks  of  a  Perfection  with  notes 
by  Rabbi  Yitzchak  Kasuban.  I  was  at  first  at  a  loss  to 
guess  who  that  Rabbi  Casaubon  might  be.  When  ex- 
amining Zedner  I  found  it  was  no  other  than  the  famous 
Christian  scholar,  Isaac  Casaubon.  It  is  not  known  that 
Casaubon's  ambition  lay  in  this  direction.  But  when 
Philo  was  regarded  as  a  Father  of  the  Church,  Ben  Gabirol 
quoted  for  many  centuries  as  a  Mohammedan  philosopher, 


260  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

why  should  not  Casaubon  obtain  for  once  the  dignity  of  a 
Rabbi  ? 

After  having  given  the  reader  some  notion  of  the  collec- 
tion of  printed  works,  I  should  like  now  to  invite  him  to 
accompany  me  through  the  Manuscript  Department  of  the 
Museum.  But  I  am  afraid  that  I  shall  make  a  bad  guide 
here ;  for  the  Museum  is  still  without  a  descriptive  cata- 
logue of  the  Hebrew  manuscripts,  which  is  the  only  means 
of  enabling  the  student  to  obtain  a  general  view  of  the 
number  and  nature  of  these  works.  The  manuscript  cata- 
logue of  Dukes  goes  only  as  far  as  1856.  It  was,  as  we 
shall  soon  see,  just  after  this  time  that  the  Museum  made 
its  largest  and,  to  a  certain  degree  also,  its  most  valuable 
acquisitions  in  Hebrew  manuscripts.  The  following  re- 
marks must,  therefore,  not  be  taken  as  the  result  of  a 
systematic  study  of  this  collection,  which  would  be  quite 
impossible  without  the  aid  of  a  catalogue.  They  rest 
partly  on  the  descriptions  given  of  a  certain  number  of 
manuscripts  in  the  catalogue  by  Dukes,  but  for  the  greater 
part  on  occasional  glances  at  this  or  that  MS. 

As  to  the  history  of  the  collection,  it  has  grown  out  of 
small  beginnings  just  as  that  of  printed  books.  The  col- 
lection of  Dr.  Sloane,  which  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
Museum  Library,  contained  only  nine  Hebrew  MSS. 
Later  acquisitions,  as  the  Harleian  collection,  the  Cot- 
tonian  collection,  the  Royal  collection,  and  many  other 
smaller  collections  marked  as  Additional  up  to  1854,  in- 
creased the  number  of  the  Hebrew  manuscripts  to  232. 
Of  much  more  importance  was  the  Almanzi  collection, 
bought  by  the  trustees  of  the  Museum  in  1865,  and  con- 
sisting of  335  MSS.  Of  succeeding  acquisitions  I  shall 
mention  here  only  the  Yemen  MSS.,  which  were  brought 


BRITISH  MUSEUM  HEBREW  COLLECTION          26l 

to  this  country  by  the  famous  Shapira.  The  number  of 
Hebrew  MSS.  at  the  present  day  is  said  to  exceed  one 
thousand.  But  we  must  not  forget  that  many  MSS.  con- 
tain more  than  one  work ;  in  some  cases  even  three  or 
four,  so  that  the  number  of  Hebrew  works  is  far  greater 
still. 

I  shall  now  speak  of  the  nature  and  importance  of  these 
MSS.  As  to  their  contents  they  may  be  easily  grouped 
under  the  following  headings :  Biblical  MSS.,  Commen- 
taries (to  the  Bible)  and  Super-Commentaries,  parts  of  the 
Talmud  and  their  Commentaries,  Theology,  Philosophy 
and  Ethics,  Massorah,  Grammar  and  Lexicography,  Cab- 
balah,  Poetry,  Mathematics,  Astronomy,  Astrology  and 
Magic,  Historical  and  Polemical  Literature,  etc.  All 
these  branches  of  theological  and  secular  learning  and  even 
of  human  folly  are  fairly  represented  in  the  collection  of 
Hebrew  MSS.  in  the  Museum,  though  often  only  by  a 
part  or  a  fragment  of  a  work. 

Thus  the  Babylonian  Talmud  is  to  be  found  only  in  two 
MSS.  (Harl.  5508  and  Add.  25, 717)  both  of  them  includ- 
ing 1 1  Tractates,  hardly  a  third  part  of  the  whole  work. 
Indeed  poor  "  Rabbinus  Talmud  "  had  to  go  to  the  auto  de 
//  on  so  many  occasions  that  one  cannot  wonder  if  only 
disjointed  limbs  are  to  be  found  of  him  in  libraries.  The 
only  complete  MS.  copy  which  escaped  this  vandalism  is 
that  in  the  Royal  Library  in  Munich,  from  which  Mr. 
Rabbinowicz  has  edited  his  monumental  work,  Variae 
Lectiones  of  the  Talmud. 

All  other  libraries,  Oxford  included,  have  to  be  satisfied 
with  fragments.  Still  worse,  as  it  is  seen,  fared  the  Jeru- 
salem Talmud,  and  excepting  the  well-known  copy  in 
Leyden  from  which  the  Venice  edition  was  prepared,  not 


262  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

even  fragments  of  this  Talmud  are  to  be  found  in  the 
majority  of  libraries.  To  my  knowledge  it  is  only  the 
British  Museum  which  can  boast  of  the  Jerusalem  Talmud 
in  MS.  extending  over  Order  of  Seeds  and  one  tractate  of 
Order  of  Festivals  4(Or.  2 122-24)  with  commentaries  of  R. 
Solomon  Syrillo,  the  first  few  pages  of  which  were  edited 
by  Dr.  Lehmann  of  Mayence.  The  Museum  also  pos- 
sesses a  great  part  of  the  Tosephta  extending  over  14 
Tractates  (Add.  27,296).  Of  Midrashim  we  find  in  the 
Museum  two  excellent  manuscripts  of  the  Genesis  Rabbah, 
one  of  the  Leviticus  Rabbak,  and  one  of  the  Siphra  and 
the  Siphrt  (K&&.  27,169  and  16,406),  besides  two  copies 
of  the  Midrash  Haggadol  and  other  Aagadic  collections 
brought  from  Yemen.  The  Midrash  by  Machir  b.  Abba 
Mari  to  the  minor  prophets  included  in  the  Harleian  col- 
lection (5704)  is  unique.  Of  Liturgies,  besides  a  great 
number  of  MSS.  representing  the  most  peculiar  rites,  I 
shall  mention  the  Machzor5  Vitri  (Add.  27,200-1)  com- 
posed by  the  disciples  of  R.  Solomon  b.  Isaac,  and  form- 
ing in  itself  almost  a  small  library.  For,  apart  from  the 
prayers  for  festivals  and  week  days  which  gave  it  its  title, 
it  includes,  besides  the  Sayings  of  the  Fathers  with  a  large 
commentary,  three  of  the  Minor  Tractates  of  the  Talmud, 
many  responses  by  German  and  French  Rabbis,  and  a 
whole  series  of  religious  hymns  by  German  and  Spanish 
authors,  and  many  other  literary  pieces.  Cabbalah  is  rep- 
resented by  various  valuable  writings  of  the  pre-Zoharis- 
tic  time  (see  for  instance  Add.  15,299)  and  the  works  of 
R.  Moses  de  Leon  and  R.  Abraham  Abulafia.  Of  Poetry, 
I  shall  point  here  to  the  Tarshish  of  R.  Moses  Ibn  Ezra, 
the  Makames  by  Judah  Al  Charisi  (Add.  27,122),  and  the 
Divan  of  R.  Abraham  of  Bedres(Add.  27,188).  Of  works 


BRITISH  MUSEUM  HEBREW   COLLECTION 

relating  to  grammar  and  lexicography,  I  may  refer  to  a 
Codex  (Add.  27,214)  which  contains  the  lexicon  of  R. 
Menahem  ben  Saruk,  which  is  considered  as  the  oldest 
Hebrew  MS.  in  the  Museum,  dating  from  the  year  1091. 
Of  historical  works,  I  mention  the  chronicle  of  R.  Joseph 
the  Priest  (Add.  27,122)  and  the  letter  of  R.  Sherira  Gaon 
(Arundel  51),  the  oldest  existing  copy  of  this  work  (1189), 
which  was  edited  by  Dr.  Neubauer  in  his  Mediczval  Jewish 
Chronicles. 

These  examples  will  suffice  to  show  the  significance  of 
the  MSS.  collection  of  this  Library.  And  the  student 
may  rest  assured  that  in  whatever  branch  of  Jewish 
thought  he  is  interested,  he  will  always  find  in  the  Mu- 
seum some  Hebrew  manuscript  useful  for  his  purpose. 

I  ought  now  to  say  a  few  words  as  to  the  value  of  this 
collection  of  manuscripts.  Now,  if  the  work  contained  in 
a  MS.  has  never  been  edited,  as  for  instance  the  Machzor 
Vitri6  and  so  many  others,  its  value  is  established  by  the 
mere  fact  of  its  existence.  For  those  who  published  MSS. 
were  not  always  guided  by  the  best  literary  motives.  And 
while  they  published  and  republished  many  books  of 
which  one  edition  would  have  been  more  than  enough, 
many  other  works  of  the  greatest  importance  for  Jewish 
literature  and  history  remained  in  manuscript.  As  an 
instance,  it  will  suffice  to  mention  here  the  Zohar,  which 
has  passed  through  twenty-four  editions  since  the  six- 
teenth century,  whilst  the  earliest  Jewish  Midrash,  the 
Pessikta  de  Rab  Kahana,  had  to  linger  in  the  libraries  till 
the  year  1868,  when  it  was  edited  by  Mr.  S.  Buber.  Thus 
there  are  still  many  pearls  of  Jewish  literature  which  exist 
only  in  MS.  Likewise  most  publishers  were  careless  in 
their  choice  of  the  manuscript  from  which  our  editions 


264  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

have  been  prepared.  Almost  the  whole  of  Jewish  litera- 
ture will  have  to  be  re-edited  before  a  scientific  study  of  it 
will  be  possible.  But  such  critical  editions  can  only  be 
obtained  by  the  aid  of  the  MSS.  not  yet  made  use  of,  in 
which  better  readings  are  to  be  found.  From  this  fact 
even  those  MSS.  the  contents  of  which  have  been  several 
times  reprinted,  as  for  instance  the  MSS.  of  the  Midrash 
Rabbak,  gain  the  greatest  literary  importance.  And  the 
more  MSS.  the  editor  of  a  work  has  at  his  disposal,  the 
more  certain  is  he  of  being  able  to  furnish  us  with  a  good 
text. 

But  even  when  the  whole  of  Jewish  literature  lies 
before  the  student  in  the  best  of  texts,  there  will  still 
remain  a  great  charm  about  manuscripts.  Printed  books, 
like  the  great  mass  of  the  modern  society  for  which  they 
are  prepared,  are  devoid  of  any  originality.  They  interest 
us  only  as  classes,  and  it  is  very  seldom  that  they  have  a 
story  of  their  own  to  tell.  It  is  quite  different  with  manu- 
scripts, where  the  fact  of  their  having  been  produced  by  a 
living  being  invests  them  with  a  certain  kind  of  individual- 
ity. This  is  specially  the  case  with  Hebrew  MSS.,  which 
were  not  copied  by  men  shut  up  in  cloisters,  but  by  socia- 
ble people  living  in  the  world  and  sharing  its  joys  and 
sorrows.  Even  women  were  employed  in  this  art,  and  I 
remember  to  have  read  in  some  MS.  or  catalogue  a  post- 
script by  the  lady  copyist,  which,  if  I  remember  rightly, 
ran  as  follows :  "  I  beseech  the  reader  not  to  judge  me 
very  harshly  when  he  finds  that  mistakes  have  crept  into 
this  work;  for  when  I  was  engaged  in  copying  it  God 
blessed  me  with  a  son,  and  thus  I  could  not  attend  to  my 
business  properly." 

To  be  sure,  some  of  these  copyists  were  curious  folk. 


BRITISH  MUSEUM  HEBREW   COLLECTION          26$ 

Their  mind  as  well  as  that  of  the  world  around  them  must 
have  been  of  a  peculiar  constitution  hardly  conceivable  to 
us.  Take,  for  example,  Benjamin,  the  copyist  of  a  certain 
Machzor  in  the  Museum  (Add.  11,639).  This  Machzor 
was  written  in  times  of  bitter  persecution.  The  copyist, 
who  was  himself  a.  learned  man,  alludes  in  one  place  to 
the  sufferings  which  the  Jews  in  a  certain  French  town 
had  to  undergo  in  the  year  1276.  On  one  of  them, 
the  martyr  R.  Samson,  Benjamin  the  copyist  composed  a 
lamentation  written  in  a  most  mournful  strain.  But  this 
lamentation  is  followed  by  a  wine-song,  one  of  the  j oiliest 
and  wildest  parodies  for  the  feast  of  Purim. 

Speaking  of  this  Machzor  I  should  like  to  remark  that 
it  forms  one  of  the  greatest  ornaments  of  the  Museum. 
Besides  including  the  whole  of  the  Pentateuch,  the  above- 
mentioned  Tarshish  by  R.  Moses  Ibn  Ezra,  and  many 
other  smaller  literary  pieces  which  would  require  a  small 
volume  to  describe  them  properly,  this  MS.  is  most  richly 
illuminated,  and  contains  very  many  illustrations.  The 
subjects  of  these  illustrations  are  biblical,  sometimes  also 
apocryphal,  such  as  —  Adam  and  Eve  in  Paradise,  Noah 
in  the  Ark,  Abraham  meeting  the  angels,  Sarah  behind 
the  door  listening  to  the  conversation  of  her  husband  with 
his  guests,  Moses  with  the  rod  in  his  hands  dividing  the 
Red  Sea,  Samson  riding  on  the  back  of  a  lion,  Solomon 
on  his  throne,  Daniel  in  the  lion's  den,  the  king  Ahasuerus 
holding  out  the  golden  sceptre  to  Esther,  Judith  address- 
ing Holofernes,  the  Leviathan,  the  mythical  bird  Bar 
Yochni,  and  many  other  similar  subjects.  In  passing  I 
recommend  these  illustrations  and  illuminations  to  the 
attention  of  the  artist  as  the  most  worthy  examples  of 
Jewish  ecclesiastical  art,  —  if  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a 


266  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

special  Jewish  art.  The  artist  will  find  the  Museum  best 
suited  for  this  purpose,  its  collection  being  considered  as 
the  richest  of  the  kind.  Besides  this  Machzor  I  must  also 
allude  to  the  illuminated  Bible  (Or.  2226-28)  written  in 
Lisbon  for  R.  Judah  Alchakin  — it  is  said  to  be  one  of  the 
finest  specimens  of  such  works  —  and  the  illuminated 
Mishneh  Torah  of  Maimonides,  executed  for  R.  Joseph  of 
the  famous  Yachya  family,  also  thought  to  be  most  artisti- 
cally done.  The  liturgies  for  the  Passover  Eve  service 
will  also  offer  to  the  artist  a  rich  harvest,  especially  Codex, 
Add.  27,210,  which  the  wealthy  Lady  Rosa  Galico  pre- 
sented to  her  son-in-law  on  his  wedding-day,  and  Codex, 
Add.  14,762,  even  the  binding  of  which  is  considered  as 
an  artistic  curiosity. 

Leaving  now  these  marvels  to  the  appreciation  of  the 
artist,  the  greatest  wonder  which  suggests  itself  to  us  is 
how  the  Jews  could  maintain  such  a  cultured  taste  in  such 
unhappy  times,  and  get  the  means  of  satisfying  it.  These 
reflections  about  the  owners  present  themselves  the  more 
strongly  to  our  mind  when  we  meet  with  one  of  those  old 
Jewish  prayer-books,  which  in  many  cases  formed  the 
whole  religious  and  literary  treasure  of  the  family.  In 
their  fly-leaves,  in  which  the  births  and  deaths  of  succes- 
sive generations  are  very  often  registered,  the  spiritus 
familiaris  seems  to  be  still  haunting  the  pages.  When 
you  turn  them  over  and  see  the  service  for  Passover  Eve, 
are  you  not  bound  to  think  of  the  anxiety  with  which  these 
poor  creatures  engaged  in  this  ceremony  lest  they  might 
be  attacked  suddenly  by  a  fanatic  mob  ?  must  you  not  ask 
how  they  could  bear  life  under  such  circumstances  ?  And 
when  you  turn  a  few  more  pages  and  arrive  at  the  prayers 
read  for  the  dead,  must  you  not  ask  how  did  they  die  ? 


BRITISH  MUSEUM  HEBREW   COLLECTION          26/ 

Were  they  perhaps  burnt  alive  ad  majorem  Dei  gloriam, 
or  torn  to  pieces  by  a  "  saintly  mob  "  ?  Take  again  the 
illuminated  copies  of  the  Bible  and  the  Mishneh  Torah, 
both  of  which  were  finished  only  a  few  years  before  the 
great  expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  Spain  and  Portugal,  times 
when  the  earth  already  "burnt  under  their  feet,  and  the 
heaven  was  also  very  unkind  to  them."  And  nevertheless 
Jews  were  still,  as  these  MSS.  show  us,  cultivating  science 
and  art.  Another  instance  of  such  a  devotion  to  science 
in  spite  of  the  unfavourable  times  may  be  seen  from  a 
colophon  to  Codex  Or.  39.  It  contains  the  book  Nissim, 
a  philosophical  treatise  on  the  fundamental  teachings  of 
Judaism,  together  with  a  philosophical  commentary  on  the 
Pentateuch  by  R.  Nissim  of  Marseilles,  a  contemporary 
of  R.  Solomon  ben  Adereth  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
The  Museum  copy  was  written  by  R.  Jacob,  the  son  of 
David,  who  also  added  some  annotations  to  the  book. 
At  the  end  he  says  :  "  I  have  copied  this  book  Nissim  for 
my  own  use,  that  I  may  study  in  it,  I  and  my  children  and 
my  grandchildren.  ...  I  have  finished  it  to-day,  Sunday, 
the  28th  of  Ab,  5333  (1573),  at  Venice,  in  the  year  of  the 
expulsion  which  befell  us  on  account  of  our  sins."  Now, 
only  observe  this  poor  R.  Jacob,  who  has  to  go  through  all 
these  horrors,  yet  is  still  occupied  in  copying  MSS.  for  his 
own  pleasure,  and  in  meditating  on  the  most  complicated 
problems  of  philosophy  and  religion. 

But  it  is  not  always  stories  of  this  heroic  nature  that 
the  MSS.  tell  us.  They  betray  also  very  much  of  the 
instability  of  human  affairs  and  their  weakness.  You 
find  in  many  copies  .the  words  that  they  must  not 
"be  sold  or  given  in  mortgage."  But  scarcely  a  genera- 
tion has  passed  away,  and  they  are  already  in  the  posses- 


268  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

sion  of  a  new  owner,  who  writes  the  same  injunction  to 
be  broken  again  by  his  children  in  their  turn.  In  Codex 
27,122,  we  find  commendatory  letters  for  a  worthy  poor 
man,  who  is  so  unhappy  as  to  have  two  grown-up  daugh- 
ters, and  not  to  have  the  means  of  supplying  them  with 
marriage  portions.  Indeed,  he  must  have  been  very  poor, 
not  possessing  even  a  book  in  his  house,  or  else  his 
troubles  could  not  have  been  so  great.  For  in  Codex 
Harl.  5702,  we  find  the  owner  saying:  "  To  eternal 
memory  that  I  have  acquired  this  Third  Book  of  Avicena 
from  the  hands  of  my  father-in-law,  R.  Jekuthiel,  as  a 
part  of  my  dowry." 

As  a  sign  of  human  weakness  I  give  the  following  two 
instances.  There  lies  before  me  a  cabbalistic  Codex  (Add. 
27,199),  which  acquired  some  notoriety  from  the  fact  of 
its  having  been  copied  by  the  famous  grammarian,  R. 
Elijah  Levita,  for  his  pupil  Cardinal  Aegidius.  At  the 
end  of  this  MS.  we  read :  "  I  (Levita)  have  finished  (the 
copying  of)  this  book  on  Wednesday,  the  day  of  Hoshana 
Rabba,7  5277(1516),  on  which  day  I  have  seen  my  head 
in  the  shadow  of  the  moon.  Praised  be  God  (for  it),  for 
now  I  am  sure  not  to  die  in  the  following  year."  These 
words  relate  to  a  well-known  superstition,  according  to 
which,  when  a  man  is  going  to  die  in  the  course  of  the 
next  year  his  shadow  disappears  from  him  on  the  preced- 
ing Hoshana  Rabba.  But  is  it  not  humiliating  to  see 
that  the  great  Levita,  who  was  superior  to  many  preju- 
dices of  his  time,  and  taught  Christians  Hebrew,  and  who 
denied  the  antiquity  of  the  vowels  in  the  Bible,  which  was 
considered  by  the  great  majority*  of  his  contemporaries 
as  a  mortal  heresy  —  is  it  not  humiliating  to  see  this 
enlightened  man  trembling  for  his  life  on  this  night,  and 


BRITISH  MUSEUM  HEBREW   COLLECTION 


269 


anxiously  observing  his  shadow  ?  Another  Codex  lies 
before  me  (Add.  17,053),  containing  the  Novellae  to  three 
tractates  of  the  Talmud.  Its  owner  must  accordingly 
have  been  a  learned  man.  But  in  the  fly-leaf  of  this  MS. 
we  read  the  following  words:  "  Memorandum  —  Thurs- 
day, the  25th  of  Sivan,  5295  (1535),  I  have  taken  an  oath 
in  the  presence  of  R.  David  Ibn  Shushan  and  R.  Moses 
de  Castro,  etc.,  not  to  play  (cards)  any  more."  I  might 
perhaps  suggest  on  this  occasion  that  in  our  days  when 
all  sorts  of  Judaisms  are  circulating,  a  cooking  Judaism, 
a  racing  Judaism,  a  muscular  Judaism,  and  so  many 
Judaisms  more  —  it  would  be  interesting  to  take  up  also 
the  subject  of  playing  Judaism,  and  to  write  its  history. 

In  conclusion  I  shall  mention  the  colophon  to  Codex 
Harl.  5713,  which  may  have  some  interest  for  the  English 
reader.  It  runs :  "  I  have  written  it  in  honour  of  the 
noble  and  pious,  etc.,  Humphrey  Wanley,  the  noble  Libra- 
rian of  my  Lord  Treasurer.  May  his  glory  be  increased. 
In  the  year  5474(1714)  in  the  holy  community  of  London, 
under  the  reign  of  the  noble  and  happy  Queen  Anne. 
May  the  Lord  increase  her  splendour  and  glory."  The 
signature  of  the  copyist  is  "Aaron  the  son  of  Moses, 
born  in  the  city  of  Navaschadok  in  Poland."  By  the  way, 
we  learn  from  this  signature  that  the  immigration  of  Polish 
Jews  into  this  country  had  already  begun  in  the  time  of 
Queen  Anne,  and  perhaps  still  earlier. 

Thus  everything  in  a  MS.,  the  arrangement  of  the 
matter,  the  remarks  of  the  owners,  the  signature  of  the 
copyist,  sets  the  reader  thinking,  and  contributes  many 
a  side-light  to  the  history  of  the  Jews. 


XI 
TITLES   OF  JEWISH   BOOKS 

IT  is  now  more  than  half  a  century  since  Isaac  Reggio 
in  his  edition  of  Elijah  Delmedigo's  Examination  of 
Religion,  made  the  remark  that  this  book  adds  to  its  other 
merits  that  of  bearing  a  title  corresponding  to  its  contents, 
—  a  merit  that  is  very  rare  in  Jewish  books.  Reggio  pro- 
ceeds to  give  a  few  specimens  confirming  his  assertion, 
and  concludes  his  remarks  with  a  eulogy  on  Delmedigo, 
who  in  this  respect  also  had  the  courage  to  differ  from 
his  contemporaries.  Zunz  also  once  wrote  an  article  on 
titles  of  books.  But  this  article  unfortunately  appeared 
in  some  German  periodical  which  the  British  Museum 
does  not  possess,  and  I  could  not  even  succeed  in  ascer- 
taining whether  Zunz  treats  at  all  of  titles  of  Hebrew 
books,  nor  am  I  aware  that  the  subject  has  been  taken  up 
by  any  other  scholar,  Isaac  D' Israeli's  few  notes  on  the 
subject  in  his  Curiosities  of  Literature  being  scarcely 
worth  mention.  It  seems  to  me,  however,  interesting 
enough  to  deserve  some  illustration,  though  I  can  by  no 
means  hope  to  be  complete. 

The  titles  of  the  books  contained  in  the  Bible  need  not 
be  discussed  here ;  information  concerning  them  is  to  be 
found  in  every  critical  introduction  to  the  Old  Testament. 
The  Rabbinical  works  dating  from  antiquity  also  offer 

270 


TITLES   OF  JEWISH  BOOKS  2/1 

little  opportunity  for  reflection  on  their  titles.  The  Tal- 
mud, as  a  work,  has  no  title  at  all ;  for  Talmud  simply 
means  "teaching"  or  "study."  Sometimes  it  is  termed 
ShaSS,  an  abbreviation  of  Shis  ha  Sedarim^  meaning  the 
Six  Orders  or  divisions  contained  in  the  Mishnah.  This 
last  word  means,  according  to  some  authors,  "  Repetition." 
Other  Tannaitic  collections  of  laws  or  expositions  of  the 
Scriptures  are  called  "  the  Book  "  (Siphra),  "  the  Books  " 
(Siphre),  or  "Additions"  (Tosephta  to  the  Mishnah). 
The  word  Baraitha*  means  the  external  Mishnah  that 
enjoyed  less  authority  than  the  Mishnah  of  R.  Judah  the 
Patriarch.  Some  approach  to  titles  we  find  in  the  names 
given  to  the  different  tractates  included  in  the  Mishnah, 
as  Berachoth,  because  it  treats  of  Benedictions,  Peak* 
(Corner)  which  contains  the  particulars  concerning  the 
law  in  Lev.  xix.  and  so  forth.  Of  the  few  works  quoted 
in  the  Talmud  it  will  suffice  to  mention  the  Seder  Olam, 
the  Order  of  the  World,  the  name  of  which  is  very  suita- 
ble to  the  chronological  contents  of  the  book.  In  general, 
I  may  observe  that  as  long  as  the  law  which  prohibited 
the  writing  down  of  the  Oral  teachings  was  in  force,  there 
hardly  existed  Jewish  books.  But  where  there  are  no 
books  there  is  also  no  need  for  titles.  The  few  titles, 
however,  which  can  be  proved  to  be  historical  are  simple 
and  to  the  point.  It  is  not  till  about  the  beginning  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  when  this  prohibitive  law  had,  for  reasons  not 
to  be  explained  here,  been  abolished,  that  we  can  speak  of 
Hebrew  books.  But  here  also  the  Title-confusion  begins. 
In  order  that  we  may  have  some  general  view  of  the 
thousands  of  titles  that  are  catalogued  by  the  Jewish 
bibliographers,  it  will  perhaps  be  well  to  arrange  them 
under  the  following  six  classes  :  — 


272  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

I.  Simple  titles,  that  have  no  other  object  than  that  of 
indicating  the  subject  matter  of  the  book.     These  are,  as 
we  have  just  seen,  the  only  kind  of  titles  known  to  antiq- 
uity.    The   few   books   which   the    Gaonim    left   us  bear 
such  simple  titles  as  could  have  served  as  models  to  later 
generations.     Among  them  may  be  mentioned  the  Hala- 
choth  or  collection  of  Laws,  Creeds  and  Opinions,  by  R. 
Saadiah  Gaon,  the  Book  on  Buying  and  Selling,  by  R. 
Hai  Gaon,   containing   the   laws   relating   to    commercial 
transactions.     It  may  be  noticed   that   this   last   book   is 
one   of   the  best  arranged  in   Jewish  literature,   and   dis- 
plays more  systematising  powers  than  even  the  Code  of 
Maimonides.     The  greatest  part  of   the   literary  activity 
of  the  Gaonim  consists  in  their  Responsa,  in  which  they 
gave  decisions  on  ritual  questions,  or  explanations  of  dif- 
ficult passages  in  the  Talmud.     The  titles  borne  by  the 
various  collections  of  those  Responsa  belong  to  a  period 
later  than  the  author's.     The  great  majority  of  the  books 
produced  by  the  Franco-German  school  may  also  be  in- 
cluded in  this  class.     They  are  termed  "Commentaries," 
"Additions"   or  "Glosses,"  "Novelise,"   or  "Confirming 
Proofs,"  and  similar  modest  titles  which  show  both  their 
relation  to,  and  dependence  on,  another  older  authority. 
The  largest  collection  of  Midrashim  we  possess  bears  the 
simple  title  "  Bag."  4     Many  of  the  Responsa  satisfy  them- 
selves with  the  words  "  Questions  to,  and  Answers  by." 

II.  Titles  taken  from  tlie  first  word  with  which  the  book 
begins,  or  from  the  first  word  of  the  Scriptural  verse  occur- 
ring first  in  the  book.     This  class  is  strongly  represented 
by  the  Midrashim.     Thus   the    Midrash  to  the  Song  of 
Songs  is  also  quoted  as  the  Midrash  Chazitha?  "  Midrash, 
Seest  thou  "  (the  first  text  with  which  this  Midrash  deals 


TITLES   OF  JEWISH  BOOKS  273 

being  Proverbs  xxii.  28).  The  Midrash  to  the  Psalms  is 
called  Midrash  Shocker  Tob?  "Midrash,  He  that  dili- 
gently seeketh  the  good"  (Prov.  xi.  37).  The  Midrash 
containing  the  legendary  story  of  the  wars  of  the  sons  of 
Jacob  with  the  Canaanites  is  quoted  as  Midrash  V'yisseu? 
"  Midrash,  And  they  journeyed,"  as  the  story  begins  with 
the  verse  from  Gen.  xxxv.  5.  And  this  is  the  case  with 
the  titles  of  many  other  Midrashim.  Whether  the  work 
cited  under  the  strange  name  of  Meat  on  Coals  did  not 
begin  with  those  words,  containing  some  law  relating  to 
the  salting  of  meat,  I  do  not  venture  to  decide.  Under 
this  class  we  may  also  arrange  those  books  that  are  called 
after  a  phrase  which  is  often  used  in  the  book,  e.g.,  the 
Midrash  Yelamdenu  (He  may  teach  us),  or  the  Vehizhir, 
"And  He  commanded  us,"  almost  every  paragraph  in 
these  books  beginning  with  the  phrases  mentioned.8 
Probably  all  the  books  belonging  to  this  class  received 
from  the  hands  of  their  authors  or  compilers  no  titles  at 
all.  The  student  who  had  to  quote  them  gave'  them 
names  after  the  phrase  or  word  which  first  caught  his  eye. 
In  later  centuries  this  class  disappears  almost  entirely  (see, 
however,  Ben-Jacob's  Treasure •,  p.  201,  No.  827). 

III.  Pompous  titles.  The  largest  contributions  to  this 
class  were  made  by  the  mystical  writers.  Books  which 
profess  to  know  what  is  going  on  in  the  heavens  above 
and  the  earth  beneath  cannot  possibly  be  satisfied  with 
modest  titles.  Thus  we  -have  the  "  Book  of  Brightness  " 
(Zohar),  "the  shining  book"  (Bahir),  "the  Confidential 
Shepherd"  (Moses).9  The  books  which  the  Zohar 
quotes  bear  such  titles  as  the  Book  of  Adam,  the  Book  of 
Enoch.  The  only  excuse  for  the  Zohar  is  that  the  manu- 
facturing of  such  books  with  pseudo-epigraphical  titles 


2/4  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

had  already  begun  in  antiquity.  It  is  not,  however,  till 
the  Gaonic  period  that  a  whole  apocryphal  literature  sud- 
denly emerges  which  perplexes  the  Gaonim  themselves. 
No  one  is  spared.  Angels,  patriarchs,  and  martyrs  are 
called  upon  to  lend  their  names  to  these  books.  What 
one  resents  most  is  that  history  came  within  the  range  of 
the  forger's  activity.  There  is,  for  instance,  the  Josippon, 
which  professes  to  be  written  by  Josephus,  the  well-known 
Jewish  historian  of  the  first  century.  But  in  spite  of  all 
the  care  taken  by  the  author  to  disguise  himself  in  the 
garb  of  antiquity,  the  Josippon  is  a  forgery  of  the  ninth 
or  tenth  century.  Of  a  similar  kind  is  the  Book  of  Jasher, 
containing  legendary  stories  relating  to  Biblical  person- 
ages. It  pretends  to  be  identical  with  the  Book  of  Jasher 
quoted  in  Joshua  x.  13  and  2  Sam.  i.  18.  Some  sixty 
years  ago  a  certain  Mr.  Samuel  of  Liverpool  had  the  mis- 
fortune to  make  himself  ridiculous  by  maintaining  the  pre- 
tensions of  this  book;  for,  indeed,  it  does  not  require 
much  knowledge  of  the  Agadic  literature  to  see  that  the 
Book  of  Jasher  is  only  a  compilation  of  comparatively  late 
Midrashim. 

IV.  Titles  suggested  by  other  Titles.  As  an  instance  of 
this  we  may  take  Maimonides'  great  Code  of  Law,  which 
bears  the  title  Mishneh  Torah.  The  importance  of  the 
book  made  it  the  object  of  study  for  hundreds  of  scholars, 
who  wrote  their  commentaries  and  glosses  on  it.  Among 
the  titles  of  the  commentaries  such  Title-genealogies  may 
be  discovered  as  Maggid  Mishneh,  Mishneh  Lammelech ; 
which  last  word  again  suggested  such  titles  as  Emek  ha- 
Melech,  Shaar  \&.-Melech,  and  so  on.10 

The  same  process  may  be  observed  in  other  standard 
works,  the  importance  of  which  made  them  a  subject  of 


TITLES   OF  JEWISH  BOOKS 

investigation  and  interpretation  as  the  "  Prepared  Table," 
one  of  the  glosses  to  which  is  called  Mappah,  "Table- 
cloth," whilst  others  provided  it  with  the  Shewbread  and 
with  New  Fruit. 

V.  Euphemistic  Titles,  as  "The  Tractate  of  Joys," 
treating  of  funeral  ceremonies  and  kindred  subjects.  It 
does  not  seem  that  this  title  was  known  to  antiquity,  but 
it  is  certain  that  already  the  earlier  authorities  quoted  it 
by  this  name.  "  The  Book  of  Life  "  (the  German  Jewish 
title  of  which  is  A  lie  Dinim,  von  Freuden),  is  the  name  of 
a  very  popular  book  containing  the  prayers  to  be  read  in 
the  house  of  mourning  as  well  as  in  the  cemetery,  which 
is  also  called  the  House  of  Life. 

'VI.  Titles  taken  from  the  Bible,  or  Fancy  Titles.  This 
is  the  largest  class  of  all,  though  it  was  utterly  unknown 
in  antiquity.  It  will  be,  perhaps,  convenient  to  arrange 
this  class  of  titles  under  the  following  sub-divisions,  (a) 
Titles  taken  from  the  Bible,  but  also  fulfilling  the  purpose 
of  indicating  the  name  of  the  author.  For  instance, 
"  Seed  of  Abraham  "  (Ps.  cv.  6),  is  the  title  of  nine  differ- 
ent books,  the  name  of  whose  authors  happened  to  be 
Abraham;  "And  Isaac  entreated"  (Gen.  xxv.  21),  is  by 
Isaac  Satanow  on  the  Prayers;  "Then  Isaac  sowed" 
(ibid.  xxvi.  12),  edited  by  R.  Isaac  Perles,  contains  an 
index  to  the  Zohar.  "Jacob  shall  take  root"  (Is.  xxvii. 
6)  is  the  name  of  a  book  on  Grammar  and  Massorah 
by  R.  Jacob  Bassani.  R.  Joseph  of  Posen  left  two  col- 
lections of  sermons  and  commentaries  on  the  Penta- 
teuch, of  which  the  one  is  called  "And  Joseph  nour- 
ished" (Gen.  xlvii.  12),  the  other  "And  Joseph  gathered" 
(ibid.  14).  Authors  with  the  name  of  Judah  are  repre- 
sented among  others  by  such' titles  as  "And  this  of  Judah" 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

(Deut.  xxxiii.  7),  a  treatise  on  the  laws  concerning  the 
killing  of  animals;  or  "Judah  shall  go  up"  (Judges  i.  2), 
a  pamphlet  containing  a  collection  of  prayers  to  be  said 
on  a  journey.  "  Moses  began  "  (Deut.  i.  5)  forms  the  title 
of  three  different  books  on  various  subjects,  the  authors 
of  which  had  the  name  Moses.  "  Moses  shall  rejoice," 
a  phrase  occurring  in  the  morning  prayer  for  Sabbaths, 
is  also  the  title  of  two  books,  the  authors  of  which  were 
named  Moses.  The  "Rod  of  Aaron"  enjoyed,  as  it  seems, 
a  goodly  popularity;  there  are  four  bearing  this  name, 
not  to  speak  of  a  fifth,  "  The  Rod  of  Aaron  brought  forth 
buds  "  (Exod.  xvii.  23),  which  is  the  name  of  a  collection 
of  Responsa  by  R.  Aaron  ben  Chayim.  But  other  Rods 
also  were  fashionable;  there  are,  besides  the  five  Rods 
of  Moses,  also  Rods  of  Ephraim,  Dan,  Judah,  Joseph, 
Naphtali,  and  Manasseh.  By  authors  of  the  name  of 
David  we  find  books  with  the  title  "  And  David  said,"  or 
a  "  Prayer  of  David,"  and  other  phrases  occurring  in  the 
Psalms  relating  to  David;  whilst  the  "Tower  of  David" 
became  the  stronghold  of  other  writers,  and  the  "  Shield 
of  David  "  protected  as  many  as  nine  more.  The  "  Chariot 
of  Solomon"  (Cant.  iii.  9)  adorns  the  title-pages  of  five 
books  by  authors  named  Solomon.  The  Caraite  Solomon 
Troki  was  so  fond  of  that  title  that  he  called  his  two 
polemical  treatises  "  He  made  himself  a  chariot,"  while 
R.  Solomon  of  Mir's  collection  of  sermons  has  the  title, 
"This  Bed  which  is  Solomon's"  (Cant.  iii.  7).  As  to 
family  names,  there  were  not  many  authors  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  that  luxury  (especially  among  the  German  Jews), 
but  we  find  them  indicating  the  fact  of  their  being  Priests 
or  Levites.  Among  such  books  are  the  collection  of 
Responsa,  by  R.  Raphael  Cohen,  which  has  the  title 


TITLES   OF  JEWISH  BOOKS  2/7 

"And  the  Priest  shall  come  again"  (Lev.  xiv.  39),  and 
the  Cabbalistic  treatise  by  R.  Abraham  Cohen,  of  Lask, 
with  the  title  "And  the  Priest  shall  reckon  unto  him" 
(Lev.  xxvii.  18).  Probably  the  author  deals  with  num- 
bers. R.  Hirsch  Horwitz,  the  Levite,  called  his  Novellae 
to  the  Talmud  "The  Camp  of  Levi."  The  title  "The 
Service  of  the  Levite "  (with  allusion  to  Exodus  xxxviii. 
21)  is  borne  by  five  other  books  by  authors  who  were 
Levites.  And  there  may  be  found  hundreds  of  books 
with  titles  suggesting  the  Priestly  or  Levitical  descent  of 
their  authors.  Most  anxious  is  Joseph  Ibn  Kaspi  (Joseph 
the  Silvern,  so  called  after  his  native  place  Argentiere,  in 
the  south  of  France)  to  provide  most  of  his  numerous 
books  with  some  Biblical  titles  combined  with  silver,  as  a 
"Bowl  of  Silver "  (Numb.  vii.  13),  or  "Points  of  Silver" 
(Song  of  Songs  i.  11),  or  "Figures  of  Silver"  (Prov.  xxv. 
10),  and  other  similar  phrases.  On  the  other  hand  Azulai 
manages  to  indicate  at  least  one  of  his  three  Hebrew 
names,  Chayim  Joseph  David,  in  most  of  his  works,  of 
which  the  number  exceeds  seventy,  as  Chayim  Shaal,11 
"He  asked  Life"  (Ps.  xxi.  4),  or  "The  knees  of  Joseph" 
(alluding  to  Gen.  xlviii.  12),  and  "Truth  unto  David" 
(Ps.  cxxxii.  n). 

(b)  The  Tabernacle  with  its  furniture  was  also  a  great 
favourite  with  many  authors.  There  are  not  only  six  tab- 
ernacles (two  on  Cabbalah,  two  on  grammar,  and  two  on 
Talmudical  subjects),  but  also  three  "Arks  of  the  Testi- 
mony," two  "Altars  of  gold,"  two  "Tables  of  Shewbread," 
four  "Candlesticks  of  the  Light,"  two  "Sockets  of  Silver," 
and  two  "  Pillars  of  Silver."  Others  again  preferred  the 
vestments  of  the  priests  as  the  "  Plate  of  Judgment,"  the 
"Robe  of  the  Ephod,"  the  "  Mitre  of  Aaron,"  the  "Plate 


278  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

of  Gold,"  the  "Bell  and  Pomegranate,"  "  Wreathen  Chains," 
and  the  "Arches  of  Gold."  Many  of  these  books  were 
written  by  authors  claiming  to  be  priests,  (c)  But  be- 
sides the  canonical,  other  costumes  were  also  fashionable. 
R.  Mordecai  Yafeh  composed  ten  books,  every  one  of  them 
bearing  the  name  of  some  garment  or  apparel,  as  "Apparel 
of  Royalty,"  "Apparel  of  Blue,"  "Apparel  of  White,"  and 
so  the  whole  suit  with  which  Mordecai  went  out  from  the 
presence  of  the  king  (Esther  viii.  15).  These  ten  works 
range  from  codifications  of  the  law  and  occasional  sermons 
to  philosophy,  astronomy,  and  Cabbalah.  By  other  writers 
we  have  three  "  Coats  of  many  colours  "  (Gen.  xxxvii.  4), 
one  "  Bridal  Attire,"  and  the  "Thread  of  Scarlet"  is  not 
missing,  (d)  The  ingredients  for  incense  as  well  as  other 
articles  used  in  the  Tabernacle  or  in  the  Temple  were  also 
fancied  by  some  authors,  and  we  have  two  books  with  the 
title  of  "  Principal  Spices,"  two  "  Pure  Myrrh,"  three 
"  Arts  of  the  Apothecary,"  one  "  Oil  of  Holy  Ointment," 
five  "  Meat  Offerings  mingled  or  dry,"  three  or  four  "  Flour 
of  the  Meat  Offering,"  and  also  one  "  Two  Young  Pigeons" 
(Bene  Yonah)  by  R.  Jonah  Zandsopher.  But  the  appetite 
of  the  authors  did  not  stop  at  these  holy  things.  It  ex- 
tended also  to  such  lay  articles  as  "Spiced  Wine,"  "Juice 
of  Pomegranate"  (Cant.  viii.  2),  "Forests  of  Honey,"  the 
"  Book  of  the  Apple,"  and  "  Seven  Kinds  of  Drink." 

(e)  Field  and  flock  also  suggested  to  Hebrew  writers  as 
well  as  to  Mr.  Ruskin  such  titles  as  "  The  Fruit  of  the 
Hand,"  the  "Rose  of  Sharon,"  the  "  Lily  of  the  Valleys," 
or  "The  Shepherds'  Tents,"  and  "  In  the  Green  Pastures" 
(Ps.  xxiii.  2). 

The  specimens  given  for  every  class  may  with  very  little 
trouble  be  doubled  and  redoubled.  But  it  is  not  my  inten- 


TITLES   OF  JEWISH  BOOKS  2/9 

tion  to  reproduce  here  whole  catalogues.  Reggio  thinks 
all  such  titles,  which  do  not  correspond  with  the  context 
of  the  book,  absurd  and  confusing.  He  suggests  that 
the  Jews  followed  in  this  respect  the  Arabic  writers.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  Reggio  is  not  altogether  wrong  in  his 
complaint.  Almost  all  the  titles  included  in  class  vi.,  as 
the  reader  might  have  observed,  never  indicate  to  the 
student  the  subject  of  which  the  books  treat.  How  can 
one  guess  that  the  Responsa,  the  Dance  of  Mahanaim 
(two  companies),  is  of  a  polemical  nature  against  the  ten- 
dencies of  reform  ?  This  list  may  be  lengthened  by  hun- 
dreds of  titles.  But  even  these  incomprehensible  titles 
are  better  than  the  Chad  Gadyah  Lo  Israel  (One  Kid  No 
Israel),12  the  un-Hebrew  title  of  a  pamphlet  trying  to  prove 
the  un- Jewish  origin  of  the  well-known  folk-song  sung  on 
Passover  Eve.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  must  not  be 
overlooked  that  even  this  class  has,  though  not  always, 
something  suggestive  and  even  practical  about  it.  The 
"  Choice  of  Pearls  "  is  undoubtedly  more  attractive  than 
the  prosaic  "  Collection  of  Proverbs  and  Sayings,"  which 
is  what  the  book  contains.  "  Understanding  of  the  Sea- 
sons "  (i  Chr.  xii.  32),  sounds  also  better  than  the  simple 
"Collection  of  Sermons  on  different  occasions."  "The 
Lips  of  those  who  Sleep  "  recommends  itself  as  a  very 
suggestive  title  for  a  catalogue,  especially  when  one  thinks 
of  the  Agadic  explanation  given  to  Cant.  vii.  10,  according 
to  which  the  study  of  the  book  of  a  departed  author 
makes  the  lips  of  the  dead  man  to  speak.  Such  titles  as 
"  Bunch  of  Lilies  "  for  a  collection  of  poems  are  still  usual 
with  us.  Such  a  title  as  the  "  Jealousy  Offering,"  or  the 
"  Law  of  Jealousies,"  in  polemical  literature  is  very  appro- 
priate for  its  subject.  R.  Jacob  Emden,  who  named  one 


280  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

of  his  pamphlets  "  Rod  for  the  fool's  back  "  (Prov.  xxvi.  3), 
will  be  envied  for  his  choice  by  many  a  controversialist 
even  to-day.  Wittily  devised  is  the  pun-title,  "  City  of 
Sihon  "  for  a  mathematical  book  by  R.  Joseph  Tsarphathi, 
alluding  to  Numb.  xxi.  27,  "  For  Hesbon  (reckoning)  is 
the  City  of  Sihon." 

Other  titles  were  probably  intended  more  as  mottoes 
than  titles.  "  Go  forth  and  behold,  ye  daughters  of 
Zion  "  (Cant.  iii.  n),  is  put  in  the  title-page  of  R.  Jacob's 
German-Jewish  paraphrase  of  the  Pentateuch,  which  was 
written  chiefly  for  the  use  of  ladies.  "  Let  another  man 
praise  thee  and  not  thine  own  mouth,  a  stranger  and  not 
thine  own  lips  "  (Prov.  xxvii.  2),  forms  the  title  of  a  book 
extending  over  only  one  and  a  half  page  in  quarto.  It 
contains  letters  by  seven  Rabbis  (among  them  R.  Liva  of 
Prague)  recommending  the  Ascetic,  R.  Abraham  Wangos, 
who  has  a  daughter  to  marry,  and  wants  also  to  make  a 
pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  as  deserving  the  support 
of  his  brethren. 

There  is  also  another  objection  to  these  titles.  It  is 
that  they  seem  sometimes  not  quite  consonant  with  our 
notions  of  modesty.  Thus  we  have  "  Desirable  and 
Sweet"  on  astronomy,  "Sweeter  than  Honey"  or  "He 
shall  comfort  us,"  and  many  others  of  this  kind.  But  it 
must  not  be  thought  that  we  have  a  right  to  infer  from 
the  title  to  the  author.  There  is,  indeed,  an  anecdote 
that  three  authors  were  rather  too  little  careful  about 
the  choice  of  their  titles,  namely  Maimonides  in  calling 
his  Code  Mishneh  Torah  (which  is  the  traditional  title  of 
the  Book  of  Deuteronomy),  R.  Moses  Alshech  in  call- 
ing his  homiletical  commentaries  Torah  of  Moses,  and 
R.  Isaiah  Horwitz  in  calling  his  book  Shene  Luchoth  ha- 


TITLES   OF  JEWISH  BOOKS  28l 

Berith  (The  Two  Tables  of  the  Covenant).  These  authors, 
as  the  story  goes,  had  for  their  punishment  that  their 
works  are  never  quoted  by  the  titles  they  gave  to  them, 
the  former  two  being  usually  cited  as  Rambam  or 
Alshech,  whilst  the  last  is  more  known  by  its  abbre- 
viated title  of  SHeLa13  than  by  its  full  name. 

I  do  not  remember  where  I  have  read  this  story,  but  I 
am  quite  sure  that  its  pious  author  would  have  been  more 
careful  about  repeating  it  had  he  known  that  this  accu- 
sation against  Maimonides  was  a  favourite  topic  with 
apostates,  who  thought  to  hit  Judaism  in  the  person  of 
its  representative  Maimonides.  But,  as  R.  Solomon 
Duran  in  his  polemical  work  remarks,  Maimonides  was 
too  much  of  a  truly  great  man  to  find  any  satisfaction 
in  such  petty  vanity.  Nor  do  I  believe  that  even  the 
character  of  less-known  authors  can  in  any  way  be  im- 
pugned by  the  seemingly  conceited  titles  of  their  books ; 
just  as  on  the  other  hand  the  humility  of  the  author  is 
not  proved  by  calling  his  book  "The  Offering  of  the 
Poor,"  or  other  modest  titles.  The  fancy  title  was  in 
common  use,  and  was  therefore  a  commonplace  with  no 
significance  whatever.  The  real  disadvantage  of  such 
titles  lies  in  the  fact  that,  as  already  pointed  out,  they  con- 
ceal from  the  student  the  contents  of  the  book  which  he 
might  otherwise  consult  in  the  course  of  his  researches. 

Did  these  authors  perhaps  foresee  that  there  would 
come  a  time  in  which  index-knowledge  would  pass  for 
deep  scholarship  ?  and  did  they  thus  by  using  these 
obscure  titles  try  to  put  a  check  on  the  dabblers  who 
speak  the  more  of  a  book  the  less  they  have  read  of  its 
contents  ?  If  this  be  the  case  we  can  only  admire  their 
foresight. 


XII 
THE   CHILD   IN   JEWISH    LITERATURE 

"  I  SAW  a  Jewish  lady  only  yesterday  with  a  child  at 
her  knee,  and  from  whose  face  towards  the  child  there 
shone  a  sweetness  so  angelical  that  it  seemed  to  form  a 
sort  of  glory  round  both.  I  protest  I  could  have  knelt 
before  her,  too,  and  adored  in  her  the  divine  beneficence 
in  endowing  us  with  the  maternal  storgt  which  began  with 
our  race  and  sanctifies  the  history  of  mankind."  These 
words,  which  are  taken  from  Thackeray's  Pendennis,  may 
serve  as  a  starting-point. for  this  paper.  'The  fact  that  the 
great  student  of  man  perceived  this  glory  just  round  the 
head  of  a  Jewish  lady  rouses  in  me  the  hope  that  the  small 
student  of  letters  may,  with  a  little  search,  be  able  to  dis- 
cover in  the  remains  of  our  past  many  similar  traces  of  this 
divine  beneficence  and  sanctifying  sentiment.  Certainly 
the  glimpses  .which  we  shall  catch  from  the  faded  leaves 
of  ancient  volumes,  dating  from  bygone  times,  will  not  be 
so  bright  as  those  which  the  novelist  was  so  fortunate  as 
to  catch  from  the  face  of  a  lady  whom  he  saw  but  the  pre- 
vious day.  The  mothers  and  fathers,  about  whom  I  am 
going  to  write  in  this  essay,  have  gone  long  ago,  and  the 
objects  of  their  anxiety  and  troubles  have  also  long  ago 
vanished.  But  what  the  subject  will  lose  in  brightness,  it 
may  perhaps  gain  in  reality  and  intensity.  A  few  moments 

282 


THE    CHILD  IN  JEWISH  LITERATURE  283 

of  enraptured  devotion  do  not  make  up  the  saint.  It  is  a 
whole  series  of  feelings  and  sentiments  betrayed  on  differ- 
ent occasions,  expressed  in  different  ways,  a  whole  life  of 
sore  troubles,  of  bitter  disappojntments,  but  also  moments 
of  most  elevated  joys  and  real  happiness. 

And  s'urely  these  manifestations  of  the  divine  benefi- 
cence, which  appear  in  their  brightest  glory  in  the  litera- 
ture of  every  nation  when  dealing  with  the  child,  shine 
strongest  in  the  literature  of  the  Jewish  nation.  In  it, 
to  possess  a  child  was  always  considered  as  the  greatest 
blessing  God  could  bestow  on  man,  and  to  miss  it  as  the 
greatest  curse.  The  patriarch  Abraham,  with  whom  Israel 
enters  into  history,  complains  —  "  Oh  Lord,  what  wilt  Thou 
give  me,  seeing  I  go  childless !  " 

The  Rabbis  regarded  the  childless  man  as  dead,  whilst 
the  Cabbalist  in  the  Middle  Ages  thought  of  him  who  died 
without  posterity  as  of  one  who  had  failed  in  his  mission 
in  this  world,  so  that  he  would  have  to  appear  again  on 
our  planet  to  fulfil  this  duty.  To  trace  out  the  feelings 
which  accompanied  the  object  of  their  greatest  anxiety, 
to  let  them  pass  before  the  reader  in  some  way  ap- 
proaching to  a  chronological  order,  to  draw  attention  to 
some  points  more  worthy  of  being  emphasised  than 
others,  is  the  aim  of  this  essay. 

I  said  that  I  propose  to  treat  the  subject  in  chrono- 
logical order.  I  meant  by  this  that  I  shall  follow  the 
child  in  the  different  stages  through  which  it  has  to  pass 
from  its  birth  until  it  ceases  to  be  a  child  and  attains  its 
majority.  This  latter  period  is  the  beginning  of  the  thir- 
teenth year  in  the  case  of  a  female,  and  the  beginning  of 
the  fourteenth  year  in  the  case  of  a  male.  I  shall  have 
occasion  later  on  to  examine  this  point  more  closely. 


284  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

But  there  is  the  embryo-period  which  forms  a  kind  of 
preliminary  stage  in  the  life  of  the  child,  and  plays  a 
very  important  part  in  the  region  of  Jewish  legends. 
Human  imagination  always  occupies  itself  most  with 
the  things  of  which  we  know  least.  And  so  it  got  hold 
of  this  semi-existence  of  man,  the  least  accessible  to  ex- 
perience and  observation,  and  surrounded  it  by  a  whole 
cycle  of  legends  and  stories.  They  are  too  numerous 
to  be  related  here.  But  I  shall  hint  at  a  few  points 
which  I  regard  as  the  most  conspicuous  features  of 
these  legends. 

These  legends  are  chiefly  based  on  the  notion  of  the 
pre-existence  of  the  soul  on  the  one  hand,  but  on  the 
other  hand  they  are  a  vivid  illustration  of  the  saying 
of  the  Fathers,  "Thou  art  born  against  thy  will."  Thus 
the  soul,  when  it  is  brought  before  the  throne  of  God, 
and  is  commanded  to  enter  into  the  body,  pleads  before 
Him :  "  O  Lord,  till  now  have  I  been  holy  and  pure ; 
bring  me  not  into  contact  with  what  is  common  and  un- 
clean." Thereupon  the  soul  is  given  to  understand  that 
it  was  for  this  destiny  alone  that  it  was  created.  Another 
remarkable  feature  is  the  warning  given  to  man  before 
his  birth  that  he  will  be  responsible  for  his  actions.  He 
is  regularly  sworn  in.  The  oath  has  the  double  purpose 
of  impressing  upon  him  the  consciousness  of  his  duty  to 
lead  a  holy  life,  and  of  arming  him  against  the  danger 
of  allowing  a  holy  life  to  make  him  vain.  As  if  to  ren- 
der this  oath  more  impressive,  the  unborn  hero  is  pro- 
vided with  two  angels  who,  besides  teaching  him  the 
whole  of  the  Torah,  take  him  every  morning  through 
paradise  and  show  him  the  glory  of  the  just  ones  who 
dwell  there.'  In  the  evening  he  is  taken  to  hell  to  wit- 


THE    CHILD  IN  JEWISH  LITERATURE  285 

ness  the  sufferings  of  the  reprobate.  But  such  a  lesson 
would  make  free  will  impossible.  His  future  conduct 
would  only  be  dictated  by  the  fear  of  punishment  and 
hope  of  reward.  And  the  moral  value  of  his  actions 
also  depends,  according  to  Jewish  notions,  upon  the 
power  to  commit  sin.  Thus  another  legend  records : 
"When  God  created  the  world,  He  produced  on  the 
second  day  the  angels  with  their  natural  inclinations  to 
do  good,  and  the  absolute  inability  to  commit  sin.  On 
the  following  days  again  He  created  the  beasts  with  their 
exclusively  animal  desires.  But  He  was  pleased  with 
neither  of  these  extremes.  If  the  angels  follow  my  will, 
said  God,  it  is  only  on^  account  of  their  impotence  to  act 
in  the  opposite  direction.  I  shall  therefore  create  man, 
who  will  be  a  combination  of  both  angel  and  beast,  so  that 
he  will  be  able  to  follow  either  the  good  or  evil  inclination. 
His  evil  deeds  will  place  him  beneath  the  level  of  animals, 
whilst  his  noble  aspirations  will  enable  him  to  obtain  a 
higher  position  than  angels."  Care  is  therefore  taken  to 
make  the  child  forget  all  it  has  seen  and  heard  in  these 
upper  regions.  Before  it  enters  the  world  an  angel  strikes 
it  on  the  upper  lip,  and  all  his  knowledge  and  wisdom 
disappear  at  once.  The  pit  in  the  upper  lip  is  a  result  of 
this  stroke,  which  is  also  the  cause  why  children  cry  when 
they  are  born. 

As  to  the  origin  of  these  legends,  the  main  features  of 
which  are  already  to  be  found  in  the  Talmud,  I  must  refer 
the  reader  to  the  researches  of  Low  and  others.1  Here 
we  have  only  to  watch  the  effect  which  these  legends  had 
upon  the  minds  of  Jewish  parents.  The  newly  born  child 
was  in  consequence  looked  upon  by  them  as  a  higher 
being,  which,  but  a  few  seconds  before,  had  been  convers- 


286  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

ing  with  angels  and  saints,  and  had  now  condescended 
into  our  profane  world  to  make  two  ordinary  mortals 
happy.  The  treatment  which  the  child  experienced  from 
its  parents,  as  well  as  from  the  whole  of  the  community, 
was  therefore  a  combination  of  love  and  veneration.  One 
may  go  even  further  and  say  that  the  belief  in  these 
legends  determines  greatly  the  destination  of  the  child. 
What  other  destination  could  a  being  of  such  a  glorious 
past  have  than  to  be  what  an  old  German  Jewish  poem 
expressed  in  the  following  lines  :  — 

Geboren  soil  es  wehren 
Zu  Gottes  Ehren. 

"  The  child  should  be  born  to  the  honour  of  God."  The 
mission  of  the  child  is  to  glorify  the  name  of  God  on  earth. 
And  the  whole  bringing  up  of  the  child  in  the  old  Jewish 
communities  was  more  or  less  calculated  to  this  end.  The 
words  of  the  Bible,  "  And  ye  shall  be  unto  me  a  kingdom 
of  priests,"  were  taken  literally.  Every  man  felt  it  his 
duty  to  bring  up  his  children,  or  at  least  one  member  of 
his  family,  for  this  calling.  How  they  carried  out  this 
programme  we  shall  see  later  on. 

Now,  regarding  almost  every  infant  as  a  predestined 
priest,  and  thinking  of  it  as  having  received  a  certain 
preparation  for  this  calling  before  it  came  into  this  world, 
we  cannot  wonder  that  the  child  was  supposed  to  show 
signs  of  piety  from  the  days  of  its  earliest  existence,  and 
even  earlier.  Thus  we  read  that  even  the  unborn  children 
joined  in  with  the  chorus  on  the  Red  Sea  and  sang  the 
Song  (of  Moses).  David,  again,  composed  Psalms  before 
perceiving  the  face  of  this  world.  On  the  Day  of  Atone- 
ment they  used  to  communicate  to  the  unborn  child, 


THE   CHILD  IN  JEWISH  LITERATURE 

through  the  medium  of  its  mother,  that  on  this  great  day 
it  had  to  be  satisfied  with  the  good  it  had  received  the  day 
before.  And  when  a  certain  child,  afterwards  named 
Shabbethai,  refused  to  listen  to  such  a  request,  R.  Johanan 
applied  to  it  the  verse  from  the  Psalm,  "  The  wicked  are 
estranged  from  the  womb."  Indeed,  Shabbethai  turned 
out  a  great  sinner.  It  will  perhaps  be  interesting  to  hear 
what  his  sin  was.  It  consisted  in  forestalling  the  corn  in 
the  market  and  afterwards  selling  if  to  the  poor  at  a  much 
higher  price.  Of  a  certain  child  the  legend  tells  that  it 
was  born  with  the  word  emeth  (truth)  engraved  on  its  fore- 
head. Its  parents  named  it  Amiti,2  and  the  child  proved 
to  be  a  great  saint. 

The  priest,  however,  could  not  enter  into  his  office  with- 
out some  consecration.  As  the  first  step  in  this  consecra- 
tion of  the  child  we  may  consider  the  Covenant  of  Abraham. 
But  this  was  prefaced  by  a  few  other  solemn  acts  which 
I  must  mention.  One  of  the  oldest  ceremonies  connected 
with  the  birth  of  a  child  was  that  of  tree-planting.  In 
the  case  of  a  boy  they  planted  a  cedar,  in  that  of  a  girl 
a  pine ;  an^  on  their  marriage  they  cut  branches  from 
these  trees  to  form  the  wedding-canopy.  Other  rites  fol- 
lowed, but  they  were  more  of  a  medical  character,  and 
would  be  better  appreciated  by  the  physician.  In  the 
Middle  Ages  superstition  played  a  great  part.  To  be  sure, 
I  have  spoken  of  saints  ;  but  we  ought  not  to  forget  that 
saints,  too,  have  their  foolish  moments,  especially  when  they 
are  fighting  against  hosts  of  demons,  the  existence  of 
which  is  only  guaranteed  by  their  own  over-excited  brains. 
Jewish  parents  were  for  many  centuries  troubled  by  the 
fear  of  Lilith,3  the  devil's  mother,  who  was  suspected  of 
stealing  children  and  killing  them.  The  precautions  they 


288  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

took  to  prevent  this  atrocity  were  as  foolish  as  the  object 
of  their  fear.  I  do  not  intend  to  enumerate  here  all  these 
various  precautions.  Every  country  almost  has  its  own 
usages  and  charms,  one  more  absurd  than  the  other.  It 
will  suffice  to  refer  here  to  the  most  popular  of  these 
charms,  in  which  certain  angels  are  invoked  to  pr6tect 
the  child  against  its  dangerous  enemy  Lilith.  But  of 
whatever  origin  they  may  be,  Judaism  could  do  better 
without  them.  The  only  excuse  for  their  existence  among 
us  is  to  my  mind  that  they  provoked  the  famous  Dr.  Erter 
to  the  composition  of  one  of  the  finest  satires  in  the 
Hebrew  language. 

Of  a  less  revolting  character  was  the  so-called  ceremony 
of  the  "Reading  of  the  Shema."4  It  consisted  in  taking 
all  the  little  children  of  the  community  into  the  house  of 
the  newly-born  child,  where  the  teacher  made  them  read 
the  Shema,  sometimes  also  the  ninety-first  Psalm.  The 
fact  that  little  children  were  the  chief  actors  in  this  cere- 
mony reconciles  one  a  little  to  it  despite  its  rather  doubt- 
ful origin.  In  some  communities  these  readings  took 
place  every  evening  up  to  the  day  when  the  child  was 
brought  into  the  covenant  of  Abraham.  In  other  places 
they  performed  the  ceremony  only  on  the  eve  of  the  day 
of  the  B'erith  Milah*  (Ceremony  of  the  Circumcision). 
Indeed,  this  was  the  night  during  which  Lilith  was  sup- 
posed to  play  her  worst  tricks,  and  the  watch  over  the 
child  was  redoubled.  Hence  the  name  "  Wachnacht,"  or 
the  "  Night  of  Watching."  They  remained  awake  for  the 
whole  night,  and  spent  it  in  feasting  and  in  studying 
certain  portions  of  the  Bible  and  the  Talmud,  mostly  re- 
lating to  the  event  which  was  to  take  place  on  the  follow- 
ing day.  This  ceremony  was  already  known  to  Jewish 


THE    CHILD  IN  JEWISH  LITERATURE  289 

writers  of  the  thirteenth  century.     Nevertheless,  it  is  con- 
sidered by  the  best  authorities  on  the  subject  to  be  of 
foreign  origin.     Quite  Jewish,  as  well  as  entirely  free  from 
superstitious  taint,  was  the  visit  which  was  paid  to  the 
infant-boy  on  the  first  Sabbath  of  his  existence.     It  was 
called    "Shalom    Zachar,"6    probably   meaning    "  Peace- 
boy,"  in  allusion  to  a  well-known  passage  in  the  Talmud,' 
to  the  effect  that  the  advent  of  a  boy  in  the  family  brings  \ 
peace  to  the  world. 

At  last  the  dawn  of  the  great  day  of  the  Berith  came. 
I  shall,  however,  only  touch  here  on  the  social  aspects  of 
this  rite. 

Its  popularity  began,  as  it  seems,  in  very  early  times. 
The  persecutions  which  Israel  suffered  for  it  in  the  times 
of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  "when  the  princes  and  elders 
mourned,  the  virgins  and  the  young  men  were  made 
feeble,  and  the  beauty  of  women  was  changed,  and  when 
certain  women  were  put  to  death  for  causing  their  chil- 
dren to  be  circumcised,"  are  the  best  proof  of  the  attach- 
ment of  the  people  to  it.  The  repeated  attempts  against 
this  law,  both  by  heathen  and  by  Christian  hands,  only 
served  to  increase  its  popularity.  Indeed  R.  Simeon  ben 
Eleazar  characterised  it  as  the  law  for  which  Israel 
brought  the  sacrifice  of  martyrdom,  and  therefore  held 
firmly  by  it.  In  other  words  they  suffered  for  it,  and  it 
became  endeared  to  them.  R.  Simeon  ben  Gamaliel  de- 
clares it  to  be  the  only  law  which  Israel  fulfils  with  joy 
and  exultation.  As  a  sign  of  this  joy  we  may  regard  the 
eagerness  and  the  lively  interest  which  raised  this  cere- 
mony from  a  strictly  family  affair  to  a  matter  in  which  the 
whole  of  the  community  participated.  Thus  we  find  that 
already  in  the  times  of  the  Gaonim  the  ceremony  was 
u 


2QO  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

transferred  from  the  house  of  the  parents  to  the  syna- 
gogue. Here  it  took  place  after  the  prayers,  in  the 
presence  of  the  whole  congregation.  The  synagogue 
used  to  be  specially  illuminated  in  honour  of  the  event. 
Certain  pieces  of  the  daily  prayer,  of  a  rather  doleful 
nature,  such  as  the  confession  of  sins,  were  omitted,  lest 
the  harmony  of  the  festival  should  be  disturbed.  As  a 
substitute  for  these  prayers,  various  hymns  suitable  for 
the  occasion  were  composed  and  inserted  in  the  liturgy 
for  the  day.  As  the  most  prominent  members  among 
those  present  figured  the  happy  father  of  the  child  and 
the  medical  man  who  performed  the  ceremony,  usually 
called  the  Mohel  or  Gozer,7  both  wearing  their  festal 
garments  and  having  certain  privileges,  such  as  being 
called  up  to  the  Reading  of  the  Law  and  chanting  certain 
portions  of  the  prayers.  It  is  not  before  the  tenth  century 
that  a  third  member  suddenly  emerges  to  become  almost 
as  important  as  the  father  of  the  child.  I  refer  to  the 
Sandek  or  Godfather..  In  some  countries  he  was  also 
called  the  Baal  Berith  (Master  of  the  Covenant).  In  Italy 
they  seemed  to  have  had  two  Sandeks.  This  word  was 
for  a  long  time  supposed  to  be  the  Greek  word  avvSiicos. 
But  it  is  now  proved  beyond  doubt  that  it  is  a  corruption 
of  the  word  a-vvreKvos  used  in  the  Greek  church  for  god- 
father. In  the  church  he  was  the  man  who  lifted  the 
neophyte  from  the  baptismal  waters.  Among  the  Jews, 
the  office  of  the  Sandek  was  to  keep  the  child  on  his 
knees  during  the  performance  of  the  rite.  The  Sandek's 
place  was,  or  is  still,  near  the  seat  of  honour,  which  is 
called  the  Throne  of  Elijah,  who  is  supposed  to  be  the 
angel  of  the  covenant.  Other  angels,  too,  were  believed 
to  officiate  at  this  rite.  Thus  the  angel  Gabriel  is  also 


THE    CHILD   IN  JEWISH  LITERATURE  2gi 

said  to  have  performed  the  office  of  Sandek  to  a  certain 
child.  According  to  other  sources  the  archangel  Meta- 
tron  himself  attended.  Probably  it  was  on  this  account 
that  later  Rabbis  admonished  the  parents  to  take  only 
a  pious  and  good  Jew  as  Sandek  for  their  children. 
Christian  theologians  also  declared  that  no  good  Christian 
must  render  such  a  service  to  a  Jew.  The  famous  Bux- 
torf  had  to  pay  a  fine  of  100  florins  for  having  attended 
the  Berith  of  a  child,  whose  father  he  had  employed  as 
reader  when  editing  the  well-known  Basel  Bible.  The 
poor  reader  himself,  who  was  the  cause  of  Buxtorf's 
offence,  was  fined  400  florins.  Of  an  opposite  case  in 
which  a  Jew  served  as  godfather  to  a  Christian  child,  we 
find  a  detailed  account  in  Schudt's  Merkwurdigkeitin  der 
Juden,  a  very  learned  and  very  foolish  book.  When  the 
father  was  summoned  before  the  magistrate,  and  was 
asked  how  he  dared  to  charge  a  Jew  with  such  a  holy 
Christian  ceremony,  he  coolly  answered,  because  he  knew 
that  the  Jew  would  present  him  with  a  silver  cup.  As 
to  the  present,  I  have  to  remark  that  with  the  Jews  also 
the  godfather  was  expected  to  bestow  a  gift  on  the  child. 
In  some  communities  he  had  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
the  festival-dinner,  of  which  I  shall  speak  presently.  In 
others,  again,  he  had  also  to  give  a  present  to  the  mother 
of  the  child. 

Much  older  than  the  institution  of  the  Sandek  is  the 
festival-dinner  just  alluded  to,  which  was  held  after  the 
ceremony.  Jewish  legend  supplies  many  particulars  of 
the  dinner  the  patriarch  Abraham  gave  at  the  Berith  of 
his  son  Isaac.  This  is  a  little  too  legendary,  but  there  is 
ample  historical  evidence  that  such  meals  were  already 
customary  in  the  times  of  the  Second  Temple.  The 


292  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Talmud  of  Jerusalem  gives  us  a  detailed  account  of  the 
proceedings  which  took  place  at  the  Berith  dinner  of 
Elisha  ben  Abuyah,  who  afterwards  obtained  a  sad  celeb- 
rity as  Acher.  Considering  that  Elisha' s  birth  must  have 
fallen  within  'the  first  decades  after  the  destruction  of  the 
Temple,  and  that  these  sad  times  were  most  unsuitable  for 
introducing  new  festivals,  we  may  safely  date  the  custom 
back  to  the  times  of  the  Temple.  The  way  in  which  the 
guests  entertained  themselves  is  also  to  be  gathered  from 
the  passage  referred  to.  First  came  the  dinner,  in  which 
all  the  guests  participated  ;  afterwards  the  great  men  of 
Jerusalem  occupied  one  room,  indulging  there  in  singing, 
hand  clapping,  and  dancing.  The  scholars  again,  who 
apparently  did  not  belong  to  the  great  men,  were  confined 
to  another  room,  where  they  employed  themselves  in  dis- 
cussing biblical  subjects.  In  later  times  special  hymns, 
composed  for  this  festival,  were  inserted  in  the  grace  after 
dinner.  After  the  dinner,  sermons  or  speeches  used  also 
to  be  given,  the  contents  of  which  were  usually  made  up 
of  reflections  on  biblical  and  Talmudical  passages  relat- 
ing to  the  event  of  the  day.  Sometimes  they  consisted  of 
a  kind  of  learned  puns  on  the  name  which  the  child  re- 
ceived on  this  occasion. 

With  this  meal  the  first  consecration  of  the  child-priest 
was  concluded.  In  some  places  they  used  to  come  to  the 
father's  house  on  the  third  day  after  the  circumcision  with 
the  purpose  of  making  inquiries  after  the  child's  health. 
In  the  case  when  the  child  was  the  first-born  the  ceremony 
of  "  redeeming  the  child  "  8  in  accordance  with  Exodus  xiii. 
used  to  take  place.  The  details  of  this  ceremony  are  to 
be  found  in  almost  every  prayer-book,  and  there  is  nothing 
fresh  to  add.  But  perhaps  I  may  be  allowed  to  draw 


THE    CHILD  IN  JEWISH  LITERATURE 

attention  to  another  distinction  that  the  first-born  received 
in  the  Middle  Ages.  I  refer  to  an  account  given  by  the 
author  of  the  book,  The  Ordinance  of  the  Law,9  who 
flourished  in  the  thirteenth  century.  He  says  :  Our  pred- 
ecessors made  the  rule  to  destine  every  first-born  to  God, 
and  before  its  birth  the  father  had  to  say,  "  I  take  the  vow 
that  if  my  wife  presents  me  with  a  son,  he  shall  be  holy 
unto  the  Lord,  and  in  His  Torah  he  shall  meditate  day  and 
night."  On  the  eighth  day  after  the  Berith  Milah  they 
put  the  child  on  cushions,  and  a  Bible  on  its  head,  and 
the  elders  of  the  community,  or  the  principal  of  the  col- 
lege, imparted  their  blessings  to  it.  These  first-born  sons 
formed,  when  grown  up,  the  chief  contingent  of  the  Yes- 
hiboth  (Talmudical  Colleges),  where  they  devoted  the 
greatest  part  of  their  livas  to  the  study  of  the  Torah.  In 
later  centuries  the  vow  was  dropped,  but  from  the  abun- 
dance of  the  Yeshiboth  in  Poland  and  elsewhere  it  seems 
as  if  almost  every  child  was  considered  as  having  no  other 
calling  but  the  study  of  the  Torah.  Indeed,  the  growing 
persecutions  required  a  strengthening  of  the  religious 
force. 

With  these  ceremonies  the  first  act  of  consecration 
ended  in  the  case  where  the  new-born  child  was  a  boy. 
I  will  now  refer  to  the  ceremony  of  the  name-giving,  which 
was  common  to  males  and  females.  In  the  case  of  the 
former  this  ceremony  was  connected  with  the  Berith 
Milah.  The  oldest  formula,  which  is  already  to  be  found 
in  the  Ritual  Rab  Amram  Gaon,  is  composed  in  Aramaic. 
It  is,  like  many  prayers  in  that  language,  a  most  beautiful 
composition,  and  very  suitable  for  the  occasion.  Our 
present  Hebrew  prayer  is  far  less  beautiful,  and  dates 
from  a  much  later  age.  In  some  countries  the  ceremony 


294  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

of  naming  was  repeated  in  the  house  of  the  parents.  It 
took  place  on  the  Sabbath,  when  the  mother  returned  home 
from  her  first  visit  to  the  synagogue  after  her  recovery. 
Here  the  friends  and  relatives  of  the  family  assembled, 
and  after  arranging  themselves  round  the  cradle  of  the 
child  they  lifted  it  three  times,  shouting  the  new  name  at 
every  lifting.  This  name  was  the  so-called  "profane" 
name,  whilst  the  name  it  received  in  the  synagogue  was 
the  "sacred"  or  Hebrew  name.  The  ceremony  con- 
cluded with  the  usual  festival-dinner.  By  the  way,  there 
was  perhaps  a  little  too  much  feasting  in  those  days.  The 
contemporary  Rabbis  tried  indeed  to  suppress  some  of 
the  banquets,  and  put  all  sorts  of  restrictions  on  dinner- 
hunting  people.  But  considering  the  fact  that,  as  Jews, 
they  were  excluded  from  every  public  amusement,  we 
cannot  grudge  them  the  pleasure  they  drew  from  these 
semi-religious  celebrations.  For  people  of  an  ascetic 
disposition  it  was,  perhaps,  the  only  opportunity  of  enjoy- 
ing a  proper  meal.  In  the  same  way,  in  our  days,  the 
most  severe  father  would  not  deny  his  lively  daughter  the 
pleasure  of  dancing  or  singing  charitably  for  the  benefit 
of  suffering  humanity.  The  ceremony  described  was  known 
to  the  authors  of  the  Middle  Ages  by  the  name  of  Nolle 
Kreish.  These  words  are  proved  by  Dr.  Perles  to  be  of 
German  origin,  and  based  on  some  Teutonic  superstition 
into  the  explanation  of  which  I  cannot  enter  here. 

Of  much  more  importance  was  the  ceremony  of  name- 
giving  in  the  case  of  a  girl,  it  being  the  only  attention  the 
female  child  received  from  the  synagogue.  The  usages 
varied.  In  some  countries  the  name  was  given  on  the 
first  Sabbath  after  the  birth  of  the  child.  The  father 
was  "called  up  to  the  Reading  of  the  Law,"  on  which 


THE    CHILD  IN  JEWISH  LITERATURE 

followed  the  formula,  "  He  who  blessed  our  ancestors 
Abraham/'  etc.,  "  may  He  also  bless,"  etc.,  including  the 
blessing  and  announcement  of  the  child's  name.  After 
the  prayer  the  congregation  assembled  in  the  house  of 
the  parents  to  congratulate  them.  In  other  countries  the 
ceremony  took  place  on  the  Sabbath  when  the  mother  at- 
tended the  synagogue  after  the  recovery.  The  ceremony 
of  Holle  Kreish  seems  to  have  been  especially  observed 
in  the  case  of  a  girl. 

Though  the  feasting  was  now  over  for  the  parents,  the 
child  still  lived  in  a  holiday  atmosphere  for  a  long  time. 
In  the  legend  of  the  "Ages  of  Man"  the  child  is  de- 
scribed in  the  first  year  of  its  existence  as  a  little  prince, 
adored  and  petted  by  all.  The  mother  herself  nourished 
and  tended  the  child.  Although  the  Bible  already  speaks 
of  nurses,  many  passages  in  the  later  Jewish  literature 
show  a  strong  aversion  to  these  substitutes  for  the  mother. 
In  the  event  of  the  father  of  the  child  dying,  the  mother 
was  forbidden  to  marry  before  her  suckling  infant  reached 
the  age  of  two  years,  lest  a  new  courtship  might  lead  to 
the  neglect  of  the  child. 

More  difficult  is  it  to  say  wherein  the  other  signs  of 
loyalty  to  the  little  prince  consisted ;  as,  for  instance, 
whether  Jews  possessed  anything  like  lullabies  to  soothe 
the  little  prince  into  happy  and  sweet  slumber.  At  least 
I  am  not  aware  of  the  existence  of  such  songs  in  the 
ancient  Jewish  literature,  nor  are  they  quoted  by  mediaeval 
writers.  The  "  Schlummerlied,"  by  an  unknown  Jewish 
bard,  about  which  German  scholars  wrote  so  much,  con- 
tains more  heathen  than  Jewish  elements.  From  the 
protest  in  The  Book  of  the  Pious,  against  using  non- 
Jewish  cradle-songs,  it  seems  that  little  Moshechen  was 


296  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

lulled  to  sleep  by  the  same  tunes  and  words  as  little 
Johnny.  The  only  Jewish  lullaby  of  which  I  know,  is 
to  be  found  in  the  work  of  a  modern  writer  who  lived 
in  Russia.  How  far  its  popularity  goes  in  that  country 
I  have  no  means  of  ascertaining.  This  jingle  runs  as 
follows :  — 

O !  hush  thee,  my  darling,  sleep  soundly  my  son, 
Sleep  soundly  and  sweetly  till  day  has  begun ; 
For  under  the  bed  of  good  children  at  night 
There  lies,  till  the  morning,  a  kid  snowy  white. 
We'll  send  it  to  market  to  buy  Sechora,10 
While  my  little  lad  goes  to  study  Torah. 
Sleep  soundly  at  night  and  learn  Torah  by  day, 
Then  thou'lt  be  a  Rabbi  when  I  have  grown  gray. 
But  I'll  give  thee  to-morrow  ripe  nuts  and  a  toy, 
If  thou'lt  sleep  as  I  bid  thee,  my  own  little  boy.11 

But  naturally  the  holiday  atmosphere  I  spoke  of  was 
very  often  darkened  by  clouds  resulting  from  the  illness 
of  the  child.  Excepting  small-pox,  the  child  was  subject 
to  most  of  those  diseases  which  so  often  prove  fatal  to 
our  children.  These  diseases  were  known  under  the  col- 
lective name  of  "  the  difficulties  (or  the  pain)  of  bringing 
up  children."  These  difficulties  seem  to  have  been  still 
greater  in  Palestine,  where  one  of  the  old  Rabbis  ex- 
claimed that  it  was  easier  to  see  a  whole  forest  of  young 
olive  trees  grow  up  than  to  rear  one  child.12  To  avoid 
so  mournful  a  subject,  I  refrain  from  repeating  the  touch- 
ing stories  relating  to  the  death  of  children.  The  pain 
was  the  more  keenly  felt  since  there  was  no  other  way 
of  explaining  the  misfortune  which  befell  the  innocent 
creature  than  that  it  had  suffered  for  the  sins  of  the 
parents;  and  the  only  comfort  the  latter  had  was  that 


THE   CHILD  IN  JEWISH  LITERATURE 

the  child  could  not  have  lost  much  by  its  being  removed 
from  this  vale  of  tears  at  such  an  early  period.  A  re- 
markable legend  describes  God  Himself  as  giving  lessons 
so  many  hours  a  day  to  these  prematurely  deceased 
children.13  Indeed,  to  the  mind  of  the  old  Rabbis,  the 
only  thing  worth  living  for  was  the  study  of  the  Law. 
Consequently  the  child  that  suffered  innocently  could 
not  have  a  better  compensation  than  to  learn  Torah  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Master  of  masters. 

But  even  when  the  child  was  healthy,  and  food  and 
climate  proved  congenial  to  its  constitution,  there  still 
remained  the  troubles  of  its  spiritual  education.  And  to 
be  sure  it  was  not  an  easy  matter  to  bring  up  a  "priest." 
The  first  condition  for  this  calling  was  learning.  But 
learning  cannot  be  acquired  without  honest  and  hard 
industry.  It  is  true  that  R.  Akiba  numbers  wisdom 
among  the  virtues  which  are  hereditary  from  father  to  son. 
Experience,  however,  has  shown  that  it  is  seldom  the  case, 
and  the  Rabbis  were  already  troubled  with  the  question 
how  it  happens  that  children  so  little  resemble  their 
fathers  in  respect  of  learning. 

Certainly  Jewish  legends  can  boast  of  a  whole  series  of 
prodigies.  Thus  a  certain  Rabbi  is  said  to  have  been  so 
sharp  as  to  have  had  a  clear  recollection  of  the  mid-wife 
who  made  him  a  citizen  of  this  world.  Ben  Sira  again, 
instantly  after  his  birth,  entertains  his  terrified  mother 
with  many  a  wise  and  foolish  saying,  refuses  the  milk  she 
offers  him,  and  asks  for  solid  food.  A  certain  Nachman 
was  born  with  a  prophecy  on  his  lips,  predicting  the  fate 
of  all  nations  on  earth,  as  well  as  fixing  the  date  for  the 
advent  of  the  Messiah.  The  youngest  of  seven  sons  of 
Hannah,  who  became  martyrs  under  the  reign  of  Antio- 


298  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

chus  Epiphanes,  was  according  to  one  version  aged  two 
years,  six  months,  six  hours,  and  thirty  minutes.  But  the 
way  in  which  he  defied  the  threats  of  the  tyrant  was 
really  worthy  of  one  of  seventy.  R.  Judah  de  Modena  is 
said  to  have  read  the  lesson  from  the  prophets  in  the 
synagogue  at  the  age  of  two  years  and  a  half.  A  famous 
Cabbalist,  Nahum,  at  the  age  of  three,  gave  a  lecture  on 
the  decalogue  that  lasted  for  three  days.  The  Chassidim 
pretended  of  one  of  their  Zaddikim  that  he  remembered 
all  that  he  had  been  taught  by  the  angels  before  his  birth, 
and  thus  excused  their  Zaddik's  utter  neglect  of  studying 
anything.  Perhaps  I  may  mention  in  this  place  a  sen- 
tence from  Schudt,  which  may  reconcile  one  to  the  harm- 
less exaggerations  of  the  Chassidim.  It  relates  to  a  case 
where  a  Jewish  girl  of  six  was  taken  away  by  a  Christian 
with  the  intention  of  baptising  her,  for  he  maintained  that 
this  was  the  wish  and  pleasure  of  the  child.  Probably 
the  little  girl  received  her  instruction  from  the  Christian 
servant  of  the  house,  as  has  happened  many  times. 
Schudt  proves  that  this  wish  ought  to  be  granted  in  spite 
of  the  minority  of  the  child.  He  argues :  As  there  is  a 
maxim,  "  What  is  wanting  in  years  may  be  supplied  by 
wickedness,"  why  could  not  also  the  reverse  be  true  that 
"  What  is  wanting  in  years  can  be  supplied  by  grace  "  ? 
Of  a  certain  R.  Meshullam,  again,  we  know  that  he 
preached  in  the  synagogue  at  Brody,  at  the  age  of  nine, 
and  perplexed  the  chief  Rabbi  of  the  place  by  his  deep 
Talmudical  learning.  As  the  Rabbi  had  a  daughter  of 
seven,  the  cleverness  exhibited  by  the  boy  Rabbi  did  not 
end  without  very  serious  consequences  for  all  his  life. 

Happily  all   these   prodigies  or   children  of   grace  are 
only  exceptional.     I    say  happily,  for   the  Rabbis   them- 


THE    CHILD  IN  JEWISH  LITERATURE  299 

selves  disliked  such  creatures.  They  were  more  satisfied 
with  those  signs  of  intelligence  that  indicate  future  great- 
ness. The  following  story  may  serve  as  an  instance :  — 
R.  Joshua  ben  Hananiah  once  made  a.  journey  to  Rome. 
Here  he  was  told  that  amongst  the  captives  from  Jeru- 
salem there  was  a  child  with  bright  eyes,  its  hair  in 
ringlets,  and  its  features  strikingly  beautiful.  The  Rabbi 
made  up  his  mind  to^  redeem  the  boy.  He  went  to  the 
prison  and  addressed  the  child  with  a  verse  from  Isaiah, 
"Who  gave  Jacob  for  a  spoil  and  Israel  to  the  robbers?" 
On  this  the  child  answered  by  continuing  the  second  half 
of  the  same  verse,  "  Did  not  the  Lord,  He  against  whom 
we  have  sinned  ?  For  they  would  not  walk  in  His  ways, 
neither  were  they  obedient  unto  His  law "  (Isaiah  xlii. 
24).  The  Rabbi  was  so  delighted  with  this  answer,  that 
he  said :  "  I  am  sure  he  will  grow  up  to  be  a  teacher  in 
Israel.  I  take  an  oath  to  redeem  him,  cost  what  it 
may."  The  child  was  afterwards  known  under  the  name 
of  R.  Ishmael  ben  Elisha.  Such  children  were  ideals 
of  the  Rabbis,  but  they  hated  the  baby  scholar,  who 
very  often  grew  impertinent  and  abused  his  elders.  The 
Rabbis  much  preferred  the  majority  of  those  tiny  creat- 
ures, who  are  characterised  by  the  already  mentioned 
legends  on  the  "Ages  of  Men"  as  little  animals  play- 
ing, laughing,  crying,  dancing,  and  committing  all  sorts 
of  mischief. 

But  these  children  must  be  taught.  Now,  there  is  the 
well-known  advice  of  Judah  ben  Tema,  who  used  to  say 
that  the  child  at  five  years  was  to  be  taught  Scripture, 
at  ten  years  Mishnah,  at  thirteen  to  fulfil  the  Law,  etc. 
This  saying,  incorporated  in  most  editions  in  the  fifth 
Chapter  of  the  Sayings  of  the  Fathers,  is  usually  con- 


300  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

sidered  as  the  programme  of  Jewish  education.  But, 
like  so  many  programmes,  this  tells  us  rather  how  things 
ought  to  have  been  than  how  they  were.  In  the  times  of 
the  Temple,  the  garticipation  of  the  youth  in  religious 
actions  began  at  the  tenderest  age.  As  soon  as  they 
were  able  to  walk  a  certain  distance  with  the  support 
of  their  parents,  the  children  had  to  accompany  them 
on  their  pilgrimages  to  Jerusalem.  In  the  Sabbatical 
year  they  were  brought  to  the  Temple,  to  be  present  at 
the  reading  of  Deuteronomy  by  the  king.14  The  period 
at  which  the  child's  allegiance  to  the  Synagogue  began 
is  still  more  distinctly  described.  Of  the  many  Talmudi- 
cal  passages  relating  to  this  question,  I  shall  select  the 
following  quotation  from  a  later  Midrash,  because  it  is 
the  most  concise.  In  allusion  to  Leviticus  xix.  23,  24, 
concerning  the  prohibition  of  eating  the  fruits  of  a  tree 
in  the  first  three  years,  this  Midrash  goes  on  to  say : 
"And  this  is  also  the  case  with  the  Jewish  child.  In 
the  first  three  years  the  child  is  unable  to  speak,  and 
therefore  is  exempted  from  every  religious  duty,  but  in 
the  fourth  year  all  its  fruits  shall  be  holy  to  praise  the 
Lord,  and  the  father  is  obliged  to  initiate  the  child  in 
religious  works."  Accordingly  the  religious  life  of  the 
child  began  as  soon  as  it  was  able  to  speak  distinctly, 
or  with  the  fourth  year  of  its  life.  As  to  the  character 
of  this  initiation  we  learn  from  the  same  Midrash  and 
also  from  other  Talmudical  passages,  that  it  consisted  in 
teaching  the  child  the  verses,  "  Hear,  O  Israel :  the  Lord 
our  God  is  One "  (Deut.  vi.  4),  and  "  Moses  commanded 
us  a  Torah,  the  inheritance  of  the  congregation  of  Jacob  " 
(Deut.  xxxiii.  4).  It  was  also  in  this  year  that  the  boys 
began  to  accompany  their  parents  to  the  synagogue,  car- 


THE   CHILD  IN  JEWISH  'LITERATURE  301 

rying  their  prayer-books.  At  what  age  the  girls  first 
came  out  —  not  for  their  first  party,  but  with  the  pur- 
pose of  going  to  the  synagogue  —  is  difficult  to  decide 
with  any  degree  of  certainty.  But  if  we  were  to  trust  a 
rather  doubtful  reading  in  Tractate  Sopherim^  we  might 
maintain  that  their  first  appearance  in  the  synagogue  was 
also  at  a  very  tender  age.  I  hope  that  they  behaved  there 
more  respectfully  than  their  brothers,  who  played  and 
cried  instead  of  joining  in  the  responses  and  singing 
with  the  congregation.  In  some  communities  they  proved 
so  great  a  nuisance  that  a  certain  Rabbi  declared  it  would 
be  better  to  leave  them  at  home  rather  than  to  have  the 
devotion  of  the  whole  congregation  disturbed  by  these 
urchins.  Another  Rabbi  recommended  the  praiseworthy 
custom  of  the  Sephardim,16  who  confined  all  the  boys 
in  the  synagogue  to  one  place,  and  set  a  special  over- 
seer by  their  side,  with  a  whip  in  his  hands,  to  compel 
them  to  keep  quiet  and  to  worship  with  due  devotion. 

A  strange  custom  is  known  among  the  Arabian  and  Pal- 
estinian Jews  under  the  name  of  Chalaka.  It  means  the 
first  hair-cutting  of  the  boy  after  his  fourth  birthday.  As 
on  this  occasion  loyalty  to  the  Scripture  is  shown  by  not 
touching  the  "corners  "  (Lev.  xix.  17),  the  whole  action  is 
considered  a  religious  ceremony  of  great  importance.  In 
Palestine  it  usually  takes  place  on  the  second  day  of  the 
Feast  of  the  Passover  when  the  counting  of  the  seven 
weeks  begins.  On  this  day  friends  and  relatives  assemble 
at  the  house  of  the  parents.  Thither  the  boy  is  brought, 
dressed  in  his  best  garments,  and  every  one  of  the  as- 
sembly is  entrusted  with  the  duty  of  cutting  a  few  hairs, 
which  is  considered  a  great  privilege.  The  ceremony  is  as 
usual  followed  by  a  dinner  given  to  the  guests.  The  Jews 


3Q2  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

in  Safed  and  Tiberias  perform  the  ceremony  with  great 
pomp  in  the  courtyard  surrounding  the  (supposed)  grave 
of  R.  Simeon  ben  Yochai,  in  one  of  the  neighbouring 
villages. 

Another  custom  already  mentioned  in  the  Talmud,  but 
which  quite  disappeared  in  later  times,  is  that  of  weighing 
the  child.  It  would  be  worth  reviving  if  performed  in  the 
way  in  which  the  mother  of  Doeg  ben  Joseph  did  it.  This 
tender-hearted  mother  weighed  her  only  son  every  day, 
and  distributed  among  the  poor,  in  gold,  the  amount  of 
the  increased  weight  of  her  child. 

I  pass  now  to  the  second  great  consecration  of  the  boy, 
—  the  rites  performed  on  the  day  when  the  boy  went  to 
school  for  the  first  time.  This  day  was  celebrated  by  the 
Jews,  especially  in  the  Middle  Ages,  in  such  a  way  as  to 
justify  the  high  esteem  in  which  they  held  the  school. 
The  school  was  looked  upon  as  a  second  Mount  Sinai,  and 
the  day  on  which  the  child  entered  it  as  the  Feast  of  Reve- 
lation. Of  the  many  different  customs,  I  shall  mention 
here  that  according  to  which  this  day  was  fixed  for  the 
Feast  of  Weeks.  Early  in  the  morning,  while  it  was  still 
dark,  the  child  was  washed  and  dressed  carefully.  In 
some  places  they  dressed  it  in  a  "gown  with  fringes." 
As  soon  as  day  dawned  the  boy  was  taken  to  the  syna- 
gogue, either  by  his  father  or  by  some  worthy  member  of 
the  community.  Arrived  at  their  destination,  the  boy  was 
put  on  the  Almemor,  or  reading-dais,  before  the  Scroll  of 
the  Law,  from  which  the  narrative  of  the  Revelation  (Exod. 
xx.  2-26)  was  read  as  the  portion  of  the  day.  From  the 
synagogue  the  boy  was  taken  to  the  house  of  the  teacher, 
who  took  him  into  his  arms.  Thereupon  a  slate  was 
brought,  containing  the  alphabet  in  various  combinations, 


THE    CHILD  IN  JEWISH  LITERATURE  303 

the  verse,  "  Moses  has  commanded,"  etc.  in  Deut.  xxxiii.  4, 
the  first  verse  of  the  Book  of  Leviticus,  and  the  words, 
"  The  Torah  will  be  my  calling."  The  teacher  then  read 
the  names  of  the  letters,  which  the  boy  repeated.  After 
the  reading,  the  slate  was  besmeared  with  honey,  which  the 
boy  licked  off.  This  was  done  in  allusion  to  Ezekiel  iii. 
3,  where  it  is  said :  "  And  it  (the  roll)  was  in  my  mouth 
as  honey  for  sweetness."  The  boy  was  also  made  to  eat 
a  sweet  cake,  on  which  were  written  passages  from  the 
Bible  relating  to  the  importance  of  the  study  of  the  Torah. 
The  ceremony  was  concluded  by  invoking  the  names  of 
certain  angels,  asking  them  to  open  the  heart  of  the  boy, 
and  to  strengthen  his  memory.  By  the  way,  I  am  very 
much  afraid  that  this  invocation  was  answerable  for  the 
abolition  of  this  ceremony.  The  year  in  which  this  cere- 
mony took  place  is  uncertain,  probably  not  before  the  fifth, 
nor  later  than  the  seventh,  according  to  the  good  or  bad 
health  of  the  child. 

The  reverence  for  the  child  already  hinted  at  was  still 
further  increased  when  the  boy  entered  the  school.  "  The 
children  of  the  house  (school)  of  the  master  "  is  a  regular 
phrase  in  Jewish  literature.  It  is  on  their  pure  breath 
that  the  existence  of  the  world  depends,  and  it  is  their 
merit  that  justifies  us  in  appealing  to  the  mercy  of  God. 
Words  of  Scripture,  uttered  by  them  quite  innocently, 
were  considered  as  oracles ;  and  many  a  Rabbi  gave  up 
an  undertaking  on  account  of  a  verse  pronounced  by  a 
schoolboy,  who  hardly  understood  its  import.  Take  only 
one  instance :  R.  Johanan  was  longing  to  see  his  friend 
Mar  Samuel  in  Babylon.  After  many  disturbances  and 
delays,  he  at  last  undertook  the  journey.  On  the  way  he 
passed  a  school  where  the  boys  were  reciting  the  verse 


304  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

from  I  Samuel  xxviii.  3,  "And  Samuel  died."  This  was 
accepted  by  him  as  a  hint  given  by  Providence  that  all 
was  over  with  his  friend. 

Especially  famous  for  their  wisdom  and  sharpness  were 
the  children  of  Jerusalem.  Of  the  many  illustrative 
stories  given  in  the  Midrash  to  Lamentations,  let  the  fol- 
lowing suffice  :  R.  Joshua  was  one  day  riding  on  his  don- 
key along  the  high  road.  As  he  passed  a  well,  he  saw  a 
little  girl  there,  and  asked  her  to  give  him  some  water. 
She  accordingly  gave  water  to  him  and  to  his  animal. 
The  Rabbi  thanked  her  with  the  words :  "  My  daughter, 
you  acted  like  Rebecca."  "To  be  sure,"  she  answered, 
"  I  acted  like  Rebecca ;  but  you  did  not  behave  like 
Eleazar."  I  must  add  that  there  are  passages  in  Jewish 
literature  from  which,  with  a  little  ingenuity,  it  might  be 
deduced  that  Jewish  babies  are  the  most  beautiful  of  their 
kind.  The  assertion  made  by  a  monk  that  Jewish  chil- 
dren are  inferior  to  Christian  children  is  a  dreadful  libel. 
The  author  of  the  Old  Victory?1  in  whose  presence  this 
assertion  was  made,  was  probably  childless,  or  he  would 
have  simply  scratched  out  the  eyes  of  this  malicious  monk, 
instead  of  giving  a  mystical  reason  for  the  superior  beauty 
of  any  other  children  than  his  own. 

Another  point  to  be  emphasised  is  that  the  boys  were 
not  confined  all  day  long  to  the  close  air  of  the  school- 
room. They  had  also  their  hours  of  recreation.  This 
recreation  consisted  chiefly,  as  one  can  imagine,  in  play- 
ing. Their  favourite  game  was  the  ball,  boys  as  well  as 
girls  being  fond  of  this  form  of  amusement.  They  did 
not  deny  themselves  this  pleasure  even  on  festivals. 
They  were  also  fond  of  the  kite  and  games  with  nuts,  in 
which  their  mothers  also  took  part.  Letter-games  and 


THE    CHILD  IN  JEWISH  LITERATURE  305 

riddles  also  occupied  their  minds  in  the  recreation  hours. 
The  angel  Sandalphon,18  who  also  bears  in  the  Cabbalah 
the  name  of  "  Boy,"  was  considered  by  the  children  as 
their  special  patron,  and  they  invoked  him  in  their  plays, 
addressing  to  him  the  words :  "  Sandalphon,  Lord  of  the 
forest,  protect  us  from  pain."  Speaking  generally,  there 
are  very  few  distinctively  Jewish  games.  From  the  re- 
searches of  Zunz,  Giidemann,  and  Low  on  this  subject,  it 
is  clear  that  the  Jews  always  adopted  the  pastimes  of  the 
peoples  among  whom  they  dwelt. 

But  it  must  not  be  thought  that  there  was  too  much 
playing.  Altogether,  Jewish  education  was  far  from  spoil- 
ing the  children.  And  though  it  was  recommended  —  if 
such  recommendation  were  necessary  —  to  love  children 
more  than  one's  own  soul,  the  Rabbis  strongly  condemned 
that  blind  partiality  towards  our  own  offspring,  which  ends 
in  burdening  our  world  with  so  many  good-for-nothings. 
The  sad  experience  of  certain  biblical  personages  served 
as  a  warning  for  posterity.  Even  from  the  quite  natural 
behaviour  of  Jacob  towards  his  son  Joseph,  which  had  the 
best  possible  results  in  the  end,  they  drew  the  lesson  that 
a  man  must  never  show  to  one  of  his  children  marks  of 
greater  favour  than  to  the  others.  In  later  times  they 
have  been  even  anxious  to  conceal  this  love  altogether, 
and  some  Rabbis  went  so  far  as  to  refrain  from  kissing 
their  children.  The  severity  of  Akabya  ben  Mahalaleel 
is  worth  mentioning,  if  not  imitating.  When  this  Rabbi, 
only  a  few  minutes  before  his  death,  was  asked  by  his 
son  to  recommend  him  to  his  friends  and  colleagues,  the 
answer  the  poor  boy  received  was :  "  Thy  conduct  will 
recommend  thee  to  my  friends,  or  will  estrange  thee  from 
them."  Another  Rabbi  declared  (with  reference  to  Prov. 


306  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

xxviii.  27)  that  it  is  life-giving  to  a  youth  to  teach  him 
temperance  in  his  diet,  and  not  to  accustom  him  to  meat 
and  wine.  R.  Judah,  the  Pious,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  gives 
the  advice  to  rich  parents  to  withdraw  their  resources 
from  their  sons  if  they  lead  a  disorderly  life.  The  strug- 
gle for  their  existence,  and  the  hardship  of  life,  would 
bring  them  back  to  God.  When  the  old  Rabbi  said  that 
poverty  is  a  most  becoming  ornament  for  Israel,  his  re- 
mark was  probably  suggested  by  a  similar  thought.  And 
many  a  passage  in  the  Rabbinic  literature  gives  expression 
to  the  same  idea  as  that  in  Goethe's  divine  lines  :  - 

Wer  nie  sein  Brot  mit  Thranen  ass, 

Wer  nie  die  kummervollen  Nachte 

Auf  seinem  Bette  weinend  sass, 

Der  kennt  Euch  nicht,  Ihr  himmlischen  Ma'chte. 

I  have  spoken  of  a  kingdom  of  priests,  but  there  is  one 
great  disadvantage  of  such  a  polity.  One  or  two  priests 
in  a  community  may  be  sustained  by  the  liberality  of 
the  congregation.  But  if  a  community  consisted  of  only 
priests,  how  could  it  then  be  maintained  ?  Besides,  the 
old  Jewish  ideal  expected  the  teacher  to  be  possessed  of  a 
divine  goodness,  imparting  his  benefits  only  as  an  act  of 
grace.  Salaries,  therefore,  either  for  teaching  or  preach- 
ing, or  for  giving  ritual  decisions,  were  strongly  forbidden. 
The  solution  of  the  question  put  by  the  Bible,  "  And  if  ye 
shall  say,  What  shall  we  eat  ? "  is  to  be  found  in  the  law 
that  every  father  was  obliged  to  teach  his  son  a  handi- 
craft, enabling  him  to  obtain  a  living. 

I  have  now  to  speak  of  the  time  when  childhood  is 
brought  to  a  conclusion.  It  is,  as  I  stated  above,  in  the 
case  of  a  girl  at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  year,  and 


THE   CHILD  IN  JEWISH  LITERATURE  307 

in  that  of  a  boy  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  year. 
As  a  reason  for  this  priority  I  will  reproduce  the  words  of 
R.  Chisda,  who  said  that  God  has  endowed  woman  with 
a  greater  portion  of  intelligence  than  man,  and  therefore 
she  obtains  her  maturity  at  an  earlier  period  than  man 
does.  A  very  nice  compliment,  indeed ;  but  like  all  com- 
pliments it  is  of  no  practical  consequence  whatever.  It 
is  not  always  the  w^ser  who  get  the  best  of  it  in  life. 
Whilst  the  day  on  which  the  girl  obtained  her  majority 
passed  unnoticed  either  by  her  or  by  her  family,  it  was 
marked  in  the  case  of  the  boy  as  the  day  on  which  he 
become  a  Son  of  the  Law,19  and  was  signalised  by  various 
rites  and  ceremonies,  and  by  the  bestowing  on  him  of 
beautiful  presents.  I  miss  only  the  wig,  which  used  to 
form  the  chief  ornament  of  the  boy  on  this  happy  day. 
Less  known,  however,  is  the  origin  of  this  ceremony, 
and  the  reason  for  fixing  its  date.  It  cannot  claim  a  very 
high  antiquity.  I  may  remark  that  in  many  cases  centu- 
ries elapse  before  an  idea  or  a  notion  takes  practical  shape 
and  is  crystallised  into  a  custom  or  usage,  and  still  longer 
before  this  custom  is  fossilised  into  a  law  or  fixed  institu- 
tion. As  far  as  the  Bible  goes,  there  is  not  the  slightest 
indication  of  the  existence  of  such  a  ceremony.  From 
Lev.  xxvii.  5,  and  Num.  xiv.  29,  it  would  rather  seem  that 
it  was  not  before  the  twentieth  year  that  the  man  was  con- 
sidered to  have  obtained  his  majority,  and  to  be  responsi- 
ble for  his  actions.  It  was  only  in  the  times  of  the  Rabbis, 
when  Roman  influence  became  prevalent  in  juristic  mat- 
ters at  least,  that  the  date  of  thirteen,  or  rather  the  puber- 
tas,  was  fixed  as  giving  the  boy  his  majority.  But  it  would 
be  a  mistake  to  think  that  before  having  obtained  this 
majority  the  boy  was  considered  as  under  age  in  every 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

respect.  Certainly  the  law  made  every  possible  effort  to 
connect  him  with  the  synagogue,  and  to  initiate  him  in  his 
religious  duties  long  before  the  age  of  thirteen. 

We  have  seen  that  the  boy's  first  appearance  in  the  syn- 
agogue was  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  year.  We  have 
noticed  the  complaints  about  his  troublesome  behaviour. 
But  how  could  we  expect  the  poor  child  to  be  attentive  to 
things  which  quite  surpassed  the  intellectual  powers  of  his 
tender  age  ?  There  was  no  better  reason  for  this  attend- 
ance either  in  the  Temple  or  in  the  synagogue  than  that 
the  parents  might  be  rewarded  by  God  for  the  trouble  of 
taking  their  children  there.  These  cares,  by  the  way,  fell 
most  heavily  upon  the  women.  The  mother  of  R.  Joshua 
enjoyed  this  burden  so  much  that  she  carried  her  boy, 
when  still  in  the  cradle,  to  the  "  House  of  Study  of  the 
Law,"  in  order  that  his  ears  might  be  accustomed  to  the 
sound  of  the  Torah.  In  later  times  there  was  another  ex- 
cuse for  taking  the  little  children  to  the  synagogue.  They 
were  there  allowed  to  sip  the  wine  of  the  Sanctification 
Cup,20  which  was  the  exclusive  privilege  of  the  children ; 
an  easy  way  of  worshipping,  but,  as  you  can  observe,  it  is 
a  method  that  they  enjoy  and  understand  most  excellently. 
They  did  not  less  enjoy  and  understand  the  service  with 
which  they  were  charged  on  the  day  of  "The  Rejoicing  of 
the  Law."21  On  this  feast  they  were  provided  with  flags, 
which  they  carried  before  the  bearers  of  the  Torah,  who 
feasted  them  after  the  service  with  sweets.  Another  treat 
was  that  of  being  called  up  on  this  day  to  the  Torah,  a 
custom  that  is  still  extant.  In  the  Middle  Ages  they  went 
in  some  countries  so  far  as  to  allow  these  little  fellows  who 
did  not  wear  caps  "to  be  called  up  "  to  say  the  blessings 
over  the  Law  bare-headed.  A  beautiful  custom  was  that 


THE    CHILD  IN  JEWISH  LITERATURE  309 

every  Sabbath,  after  finishing  the  weekly  lesson  and  dress- 
ing the  Scroll  of  the  Law,  the  children  used  to  come  up  to 
the  Almemor  and  kiss  the  Torah.  Leaving  the  synagogue 
they  kissed  the  hands  of  the  scholars.  At  home  the  initi- 
ation began  with  the  blessing  the  child  received  on  every 
eve  of  the  Sabbath,  and  with  its  instruction  in  "  Hear  O 
Israel "  and  other  verses  as  already  mentioned.  Short 
prayers,  consisting  of  a  single  sentence,  were  also  chosen 
for  children  of  this  age.  The  function  of  the  child  on  the 
eve  of  the  first  day  of  Passover  is  well  known.  Besides 
the  putting  of  the  four  questions  for  the  meaning  of  the 
strange  ceremony  (Exod.  xiii.  14),  the  boy  had  also  to 
recite,  or  rather  to  sing,  the  "  Praise."  ffl  But  I  am  afraid 
that  they  enjoyed  better  the  song  of  "  One  Kid,"  which 
was  composed  or  rather  adapted  for  their  special  enter- 
tainment from  an  old  German  poem. 

Within  three  or  four  years  after  entering  the  syna- 
gogue, and  with  the  growth  of  intellect  and  strength, 
the  religious  duties  of  the  boy  increased,  and  became  of 
a  more  serious  character.  He  had  not  only  to  attend 
the  school,  which  was  troublesome  enough,  but  he  was 
also  expected  to  attend  the  services  more  regularly,  and 
to  gain  something  by  it.  Yet  the  Rabbis  were  not  so 
tyrannical  as  to  put  unjust  demands  on  the  patience  of 
the  child.  The  voice  of  God  on  Mount  Sinai,  the  Rabbis 
said,  was  adapted  to  the  intellect  and  powers  of  all  who 
witnessed  the  Revelation  —  adapted,  as  the  Midrash  says, 
to  the  powers  of  old  and  young,  children  and  women.  It 
was  in  accordance  with  this  sentiment  that  the  Rabbis 
suited  their  language  to  the  needs  of  the  less  educated 
classes.  Thus  we  read  in  the  Tractate  Sopherim  that 
according  to  the  law  the  portion  of  the  week,  after  hav- 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

ing  been  recited  in  Hebrew,  must  be  translated  into 
the  language  of  the  vernacular  for  the  benefit  of  the  un- 
learned people,  the  women,  and  the  children.  Another 
consideration  children  experienced  from  the  Rabbis  was 
that  at  the  age  of  nine  or  ten  the  boy  was  initiated  into 
the  observance  of  the  Day  of  Atonement  by  fasting  a 
few  hours.  Lest,  however,  this  good  work  might  be  over- 
done, and  thus  endanger  the  child's  health,  the  sage  R. 
Acha  used  to  tell  his  congregation  after  the  Addition- 
Prayer  "  My  brethren,  let  every  one  of  you  who  has  a 
child  go  home  and  make  it  eat."  In  later  centuries, 
when  the  disease  of  small-pox  became  so  fatal,  some 
Rabbis  declared  it  to  be  the  duty  of  every  father  to 
leave  the  town  with  his  children  as  soon  as  the  plague 
showed  itself.  The  joy  with  which  the  Rabbis  hailed 
Dr.  Jenner's  discovery  deserves  our  recognition.  None 
of  them  perceived  in  vaccination  a  defiance  of  Provi- 
dence. R.  Abraham  Nansich,  from  London,  wrote  a 
pamphlet  to  prove  its  lawfulness.  The  Cabbalist  Buzagli 
disputed  Dr.  Jenner's  priority,  but  nevertheless  approved 
of  vaccination.  R.  Israel  Lipschiitz  declared  that  the 
Doctor  acquired  salvation  by  his  new  remedy. 

With  his  advancing  age,  not  only  the  boy's  duties  but 
also  his  rights  were  increased.  An  enumeration  of  all 
these  rights  would  lead  me  too  far,  but  I  shall  mention 
the  custom  which  allowed  the  boy  the  recital  of  "  Magni- 
fied"23 and  "Bless  ye"24  in  the  synagogue.  Now  this 
privilege  is  restricted  to  the  orphan  boy.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  hear  that  girls  were  also  admitted  to  recite  the 
Magnified  in  the  synagogue,  in  cases  where  their  parents 
left  no  male  issue.  I  have  myself  witnessed  such  a  case. 
In  some  countries  the  boy  had  the  exclusive  privilege  of 


THE    CHILD  IN  JEWISH  LITERATURE  3II 

reading  the  prayers  on  the  evenings  of  the  festivals  and 
Sabbaths.  R.  Samson  ben  Eleazar,  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, received  his  family  name  Baruch  Sheamar25  from 
the  skill  with  which  he  recited  this  prayer  when  a  boy. 
He  chanted  it  so  well  that  he  was  called  by  the  members 
of  the  community  Master  Baruch  Sheamar.  As  to  the 
question  whether  the  boy,  while  under  age,  might  law- 
fully be  considered  as  one  of  the  Ten  when  such  a  quo- 
rum was  required,  or  one  of  the  three  in  the  case  of 
grace  after  meals,  I  can  only  say  that  the  authorities 
never  agreed  in  this  respect.  Whilst  the  one  insisted 
upon  his  having  obtained  his  majority,  the  other  was 
satisfied  with  his  showing  such  signs  of  intelligence  as 
would  enable  him  to  participate  in  the  ceremony  in  ques- 
tion. Here  is  an  instance  of  such  a  sign.  Abaye  and 
Raba,  the  two  celebrated  heroes  of  the  Babylonian  Tal- 
mud, were  sitting  at  the  table  of  Rabbah.  Before  say- 
ing grace  he  asked  them,  "  Do  you  know  to  whom  these 
prayers  are  addressed  ? "  Thereupon  one  boy  pointed 
to  the  roof,  whilst  the  other  boy  went  out  and  pointed 
to  the  sky.  The  examiner  was  satisfied  with  their  answer. 
The  privilege  of  putting  on  the  phylacteries  forms  now 
in  most  countries  the  chief  distinction  of  "The  Son  of 
the  Law  " ;  in  olden  times,  however,  every  boy  had  claim 
to  it  as  soon  as  he  showed  himself  capable  of  behaving 
respectfully  when  wearing  the  holy  symbol.  It  even  hap- 
pened that  certain  honours  of  the  synagogue  were  be- 
stowed on  boys,  though  under  age.  We  possess  a  copy 
of  a  Jewish  epitaph  dating  from  about  the  third  century, 
which  was  written  in  Rome  for  a  boy  of  eight  years,  who 
is  there  designated  as  archon.  The  fact  is  the  more  curi- 
ous, as  on  the  other  hand  the  Palestinian  R.  Abuha,  who 


312  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

lived  in  the  same  century,  maintained  that  no  man  must 
be  elected  as  Warden  before  he  has  achieved  his  fiftieth 
year.  That  boys  were  admitted  to  preach  in  the  syna- 
gogue I  have  already  mentioned.26 

From  all  these  remarks  it  will  easily  be  seen  that  in 
olden  times  the  boy  enjoyed  almost  all  the  rights  of 
majority  long  before  the  day  of  his  being  "The  Son  of 
the  Law."  The  condition  of  the  novice  is  hardly  distin- 
guishable from  that  of  the  initiated  priest.  The  Talmud, 
the  Gaonim,  and  even  R.  Isaac  Alfasi  and  Maimonides 
knew  neither  the  term  "  The  Son  of  the  Law "  (in  our 
sense  of  the  word)  nor  any  ceremony  connected  with  it. 
There  is  only  one  slight  reference  to  such  an  institution, 
recorded  in  the  Tractate  Sopherim,  with  the  quotation  of 
which  I  shall  conclude  this  paper.  We  read  there  :  "  In 
Jerusalem  there  was  the  godly  custom  to  initiate  the  chil- 
dren at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  year  by  fasting  the 
whole  Day  of  Atonement.  During  this  year  they  took 
the  boy  to  the  priests  and  learned  men  that  they  might 
bless  him,  and  pray  for  him  that  God  might  think  him 
worthy  of  a  life  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  Torah  and 
pious  works."  For,  this  author  says,  "they  were  beauti- 
ful, and  their  lives  harmonious  and  their  hearts  directed 
to  God." 


XIII 

WOMAN    IN   TEMPLE  AND   SYNAGOGUE 

THE  learned  Woman  has  always  been  a  favourite  sub- 
ject with  Jewish  students;  and  her  intellectual  capabilities 
have  been  fully  vindicated  in  many  an  essay  and  even 
fair-sized  book.  Less  attention,  however,  has  been  paid 
to  woman's  claims  as  a  devotional  being  whom  the 
Temple,  and  afterwards  the  Synagogue,  more  or  less 
recognised.  At  least  it  is  not  known  to  me  that  any 
attempt  has  been  made  to  give,  even  in  outline,  the  history 
of  woman's  relation  to  public  worship.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  the  present  sketch,  which  is  meant  to  supply 
this  want  in  some  measure,  lays  no  claim  to  completeness ; 
but  I  venture  to  hope  that  it  will  help  to  direct  the  atten- 
tion of  the  friends  of  research  to  the  matter,  and  that  it 
may  induce  others  to  deal  more  fully  with  the  subject  and 
do  it  the  justice  it  deserves. 

The  earliest  allusion  to  women's  participation  in  public 
worship,  is  that  in  Exodus  xxxviii.  8,  to  the  women  who 
assembled  to  minister  at  the  door  of  the  "tent  of  meet- 
ing," of  whose  mirrors  the  lavers  of  brass  were  made  (cf. 
I  Sam.  ii.  22).  Philo,  who  is  not  exactly  enamoured  of 
the  emancipation  of  women,  and  seeks  to  confine  them  to 
the  "  small  state,"  is  here  full  of  their  praise.  "  For,"  he 
says,  "though  no  one  enjoined  them  to  do  so,  they  of 


314  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

their  own  spontaneous  zeal  and  earnestness  contributed 
the  mirrors  with  which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  deck 
and  set  off  their  beauty,  as  the  most  becoming  first-fruits 
of  their  modesty,  and  of  the  purity  of  their  married  life, 
and,  as  one  may  say,  of  the  beauty  of  their  souls."  In 
another  passage  Philo  describes  the  Jewish  women  as 
"competing  with  the  men  themselves  in  piety,  having 
determined  to  enter  upon  a  glorious  contest,  and  to  the 
utmost  extent  of  their  power  to  exert  themselves  so  as  not 
to  fall  short  of  their  holiness." 

It  is,  however,  very  difficult  to  ascertain  in  what  this 
ministry  of  women  consisted.  The  Hebrew  term  "Zo- 
beoth  " 1  would  suggest  the  thought  of  a  species  of  relig- 
ious Amazons,  who  formed  a  guard  of  honour  round  the 
Sanctuary.  Some  commentators  think  that  the  minis- 
try consisted  in  performing  religious  dances  accompanied 
by  various  instruments.  The  Septuagint  again  speaks 
"of  the  women  who  fasted  by  the  doors  of  the  Taber- 
nacle." But  most  of  the  old  Jewish  expositors,  as  well  as 
Onkelos,  conceive  that  the  women  went  to  the  tent  of 
meeting  to  pray.  Ibn  Ezra  offers  the  interesting  remark, 
"And  behold,  there  were  women  in  Israel  serving  the 
Lord,  who  left  the  vanities  of  this  world,  and  not  being 
desirous  of  beautifying  themselves  any  longer,  made  of 
their  mirrors  a  free  offering,  and  came  to  the  tabernacle 
every  day  to  pray  and  to  listen  there  to  the  words  of 
the  commandments."  When  we  find  that  in  I  Sam.  i. 
12,  "Hannah  continued  to  pray  before  the  Lord,"  she 
was  only  doing  there  what  many  of  her  sisters  did 
before  and  after  her.  We  may  also  judge  that  it  was 
from  the  number  of  these  noble  women,  who  made  relig- 
ion the  aim  of  their  lives,  that  the  "  twenty-two  "  heroines 


WOMAN  IN  TEMPLE  AND  SYNAGOGUE 

and  prophetesses  sprang  who  form  part  of  the  glory  of 
Jewish  history.  Sometimes  it  even  happened  that  their 
husbands  derived  their  religious  inspiration  from  them. 
Thus  the  husband  of  the  prophetess  Deborah  is  said  to 
have  been  an  unlettered  man.  But  his  wife  made  him 
carry  to  the  Sanctuary  the  candles  which  she  herself  had 
prepared,  this  being  the  way  in  which  she  encouraged 
him  to  seek  communion  with  the  righteous. 

The  language  in  which  the  husband  of  the  "Great 
Woman  "  of  Shunem  addresses  his  wife  :  "Wherefore  wilt 
thou  go  to  him"  (the  prophet)?  "it  is  neither  New  Moon 
nor  Sabbath "  (2  Kings  iv.  23),  proves  that  on  Festivals 
and  Sabbaths  the  women  used  to  attend  some  kind  of  wor- 
ship, performed  by  the  prophet,  though  we  cannot  say  in 
what  this  worship  consisted.  The  New  Moon  was  espe- 
cially a  woman's  holiday,  and  was  so  observed  even  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  for  the  women  refrained  from  doing  work 
on  that  day.  The  explanation  given  by  the  Rabbis  is  that 
when  the  men  broke  off  their  golden  earrings  to  supply 
material  for  the  golden  calf,  the  women  refused  to  con- 
tribute their  trinkets,  for  which  good  behaviour  a  special 
day  of  repose  was  granted  to  them.  Some  Cabbalists  even 
maintain  that  the  original  worshippers  of  the  golden  calf 
continue  to  exist  on  earth,  their  souls  having  successively 
migrated  into  various  bodies,  while  their  punishment  con- 
sists in  this,  that  they  are  ruled  over  by  their  wives. 
Rather  interesting  as  well  as  complimentary  to  women 
is  the  remark  which  the  Rabbis  made  with  regard  to 
the  "  Great  Woman."  As  will  be  remembered,  it  is  she 
who  says,  "  I  perceive  that  this  (Elisha)  is  a  holy  man 
of  God"  (2  Kings  iv.  19).  In  allusion  to  this  verse 
the  Talmud  says  :  "  From  this  fact  we  may  infer  that 


316  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

woman  is  quicker  in  recognising  the  worth  of  a  stranger 
than  man." 

The  great  woman,  or  women,  continued  to  pray  and  to 
join  in  the  public  worship  also  after  the  destruction  of  the 
first  Temple.  Thus  Esther  is  reported  by  tradition  to 
have  addressed  God  in  a  long  extempore  prayer  before 
she  presented  herself  before  the  throne  of  Ahasuerus  to 
plead  her  people's  cause  ;  and  women  were  always  en- 
joined to  attend  the  reading  of  the  Book  of  Esther.  When 
Ezra  read  the  Law  for  the  first  time,  he  did  so  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  men  and  the  women  (Neh.  viii.  3).  In  the 
Book  of  the  Maccabees  we  read  of  "  The  women  girt  with 
sackcloth  .  .  .  and  the  maidens  that  ran  to  the  gates  .  .  . 
And  all  holding  their  hands  towards  heaven  made  suppli- 
cation." In  the  Judith  legend,  mention  is  also  made  of 
"  Every  man  and  woman  .  .  .  who  fell  before  the  Temple, 
and  spread  out  their  sackcloth  before  the  face  of  the  Lord 
.  .  .  and  cried  before  the  God  of  Israel."  In  the  second 
Temple,  the  women,  as  is  well  known,  possessed  a  court 
reserved  for  their  exclusive  use.  There  the  great  illumi- 
nations and  rejoicings  on  the  evening  of  the  Feast  of  Tab- 
ernacles used  to  be  held.  On  this  occasion,  however,  the 
women  were  confined  to  galleries  specially  erected  for 
them.  It  was  also  in  this  Women's  Hall  that  the  great 
public  reading  of  certain  portions  of  the  Law  by  the  king, 
once  in  seven  years,  used  to  take  place,  and  women  had 
also  to  attend  at  the  function.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 
hardly  necessary  to  say  that  women  were  excluded  from 
performing  any  important  service  in  the  Temple.  If  we 
were  to  trust  a  certain  passage  in  the  "  Chapters  of  R. 
Eliezer,"  we  might  perhaps  conclude  that  during  the  first 
Temple,  the  wives  of  the  Levites  formed  a  part  of  the 


WOMAN  IN   TEMPLE  AND   SYNAGOGUE 

choir,  but  the  meaning  of  the  passage  is  too  obscure  and 
doubtful  for  us  to  be  justified  in  basing  on  it  so  important 
an  inference.  Nor  can  the  three  hundred  maidens  who 
were  employed  for  the  weaving  of  the  curtains  in  the  Tem- 
ple, be  looked  upon  as  having  stood  in  closer  connection 
with  the  Temple,  or  as  having  formed  an  order  of  women- 
priests  or  girl-devotees  (as  one  might  wrongly  be  induced 
to  think  by  certain  passages  in  Apocryphal  writings  of  the 
New  Testament).  But  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  their  frequent  contact  with  the  Sanctuary  of 
the  nation  produced  in  them  that  religious  enthusiasm  and 
zeal  which  may  account  for  the  heroic  death  which  —  ac- 
cording to  the  legend  —  they  sought  and  found  after  the 
destruction  of  the  Temple.  It  is  to  be  remarked  that, 
according  to  the  law,  women  were  even  exempted  from 
putting  their  hands  on  the  head  of  the  victim,  which 
formed  an  important  item  in  the  sacrificial  worship.  It  is, 
however,  stated  by  an  eye-witness,  that  the  authorities  per- 
mitted them  to  perform  this  ceremony  if  they  desired  to  do 
so,  and  that  their  reason  for  this  concession  was  "  to  give 
calmness  of  the  spirit,  or  satisfaction,  to  women." 

Still  greater,  perhaps,  was  "  the  calmness  of  spirit " 
given  to  women  in  the  synagogue.  We  find  in  ancient 
epitaphs  that  such  titles  of  honour  were  conferred  upon 
them  as  "Mistress  of  the  Synagogue,"  and  "Mother  of 
the  Synagogue,"  and,  though  they  held  no  actual  office 
in  the  Synagogue,  it  is  not  improbable  that  they  acquired 
these  titles  by  meritorious  work  connected  with  a  religious 
institution,  viz. :  Chanty.  There  was,  indeed,  a  tendency 
to  exclude  women  from  the  synagogue  at  certain  seasons, 
but  almost  all  the  authorities  protest  against  it,  many  of 
them  declaring  such  a  notion  to  be  quite  un-Jewish.  Some 


318  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

Jewish  scholars  even  think  that  the  ancient  synagogues 
knew  of  no  partition  for  women.  I  am  rather  inclined  to 
think  that  the  synagogue  took  for  its  model  the  arrange- 
ments in  the  Temple,  and  thus  confined  women  to  a  place 
of  their  own.  But,  whether  they  sat  side  by  side  with 
the  men  or  occupied  a  special  portion  of  the  edifice,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Jewish  women  were  great  syna- 
gogue-goers. To  give  only  one  instance.  One  Rabbi  asks 
another :  Given  the  case  that  the  members  of  the  syna- 
gogue are  all  descendants  of  Aaron,  to  whom  then  would 
they  impart  their  blessing  ?  The  answer  is,  to  the  women 
who  are  there. 

Of  the  sermon  they  were  even  more  fond  than  their 
husbands.  Thus  one  woman  was  so  much  interested  in 
the  lectures  of  R.  Meir,  which  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
giving  every  Friday  evening,  that  she  used  to  remain  there 
so  long  that  the  candles  in  her  house  burnt  themselves 
out.  Her  lazy  husband,  who  stopped  at  home,  so  strongly 
resented  having  to  wait  in  the  dark,  that  he  would  not 
permit  her  to  cross  the  threshold  until  she  gave  some  of- 
fence to  the  preacher,  which  would  make  him  sure  that 
she  would  not  venture  to  attend  his  sermons  again. 

The  prayers  they  said  were  the  Eighteen  Benedic- 
tions which  were  prescribed  by  the  Law.  But  it  would 
seem  that  occasionally  they  offered  short  prayers  com- 
posed by  themselves  as  suggested  by  their  personal  feel- 
ings and  needs.  Thus,  to  give  one  instance,  R.  Johanan 
relates  that  one  day  he  observed  a  young  girl  fall  on  her 
face  and  pray :  "  Lord  of  the  world,  Thou  hast  created 
Paradise,  Thou  hast  created  hell,  Thou  hast  created  the 
wicked,  Thou  hast  created  the  righteous ;  may  it  be  Thy 
will  that  I  may  not  serve  as  a  stumbling-block  to  them." 


WOMAN  IN  TEMPLE  AND  SYNAGOGUE 

The  fine  Hebrew  in  which  the  prayer  is  expressed,  and 
the  notion  of  the  responsibility  of  Providence  for  our 
actions,  manifest  a  high  degree  of  intelligence  and  reflec- 
tion. It  would  also  seem  that  some  women  went  so  far 
in  their  religious  sensibility  as  to  lead  a  regular  ascetic 
life,  and,  according  to  the  suggestion  of  some  scholars, 
even  took  the  vow  of  celibacy.  Of  these  the  Rabbis  did 
not  approve,  and  stigmatised  them  as  the  "  destroyers  of 
the  world."  Perhaps  it  was  just  at  this  period  that  Juda- 
ism could  not  afford  to  give  free  play  to  those  morbid 
feelings,  degenerating  into  religious  hysterics,  which  led 
some  to  join  rival  sects,  and  others  to  abandon  themselves 
to  the  gross  immorality  we  read  of  in  the  history  of 
the  Gnostics. 

The  same  circumstances  may  have  been  the  cause  of 
public  opinion  being  led  to  accept  the  view  of  R.  Eliezer, 
who  thought  it  inadvisable  —  it  would  seem  on  moral 
grounds  —  to  permit  woman  to  study  the  Law.  This 
opinion  was  opposed  to  that  of  Ben  Azzai,  who  con- 
sidered it  incumbent  upon  every  father  to  teach  his 
daughter  Torah.  But  justified  as  the  advice  of  R.  Eliezer 
may  have  been  in  his  own  time,  it  was  rather  unfortunate 
that  later  generations  continued  to  take  it  as  the  guiding 
principle  for  the  education  of  their  children.  Many  great 
women  in  the  course  of  history  indeed  became  law- 
breakers and  studied  Torah ;  but  the  majority  were  en- 
tirely dependent  on  men,  and  became  in  religious  matters 
a  sort  of  appendix  to  their  husbands,  who  by  their  good 
actions  insured  salvation  also  for  them,  and  sometimes  the 
reverse.  Thus  there  is  a  story  about  a  woman  which,  put 
into  modern  language,  would  be  to  the  effect  that  she 
married  a  minister  and  copied  his  sermons  for  him  ;  he 


320  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

died,  and  she  then  married  a  cruel  usurer,  and  kept  his 
accounts  for  him. 

The  fact  that  women  were  exempted  from  certain  affirm- 
ative laws,  which  become  operative  only  at  special  seasons 
—  e.g.,  the  taking  of  the  palm  branch  on  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles  —  must  also  have  contributed  to  weaken  their 
position  as  a  religious  factor  in  Judaism.  The  idea  that 
women  should  vie  with  men  in  the  fulfilment  of  every  law, 
became  even  for  the  Rabbis  a  notion  connected  only  with 
the  remotest  past.  This  is  the  impression  one  gains  when 
reading  the  legend  about  Michal,  the  daughter  of  Saul, 
putting  on  phylacteries,  or  the  wife  of  the  prophet  Jonah 
making  a  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem  at  the  three  Festivals. 
It  would  indeed  seem  as  if  women  were  led  to  strive  for 
the  satisfaction  of  their  religious  wants  in  another  direc- 
tion. Yet  it  was  said  of  Jewish  women,  "  The  daughters 
of  Israel  were  stringent  and  laid  certain  restrictions  on 
themselves."  They  were  also  allowed  to  form  a  quorum 
by  themselves  for  the  purpose  of  saying  the  Grace,  but 
they  could  not  be  counted  along  with  males  for  this  end. 
It  was  also  against  the  early  notion  of  the  dignity  of  the 
congregation  that  women  should  perform  any  public  ser- 
vice for  men. 

One  privilege  was  left  to  women— that  of  weeping. 
In  Judges  xi.  40,  we  read  of  the  daughters  of  Israel  that 
went  yearly  to  lament  the  daughter  of  Jephthah ;  while  in 
2  Chronicles  xxxv.  25,  we  are  told  how  "all  the  singing 
men  and  the  singing  women  spake  of  Josiah  in  their 
lamentations."  Of  this  privilege  they  were  not  deprived, 
and  if  they  were  not  allowed  to  sing  any  longer,  they  at 
least  retained  the  right  to  weep  as  much  as  they  pleased. 
Even  in  later  times  they  held  a  public  office  as  mourning 


WOMAN  IN   TEMPLE  AND   SYNAGOGUE 


321 


women  at  funerals.  In  the  Talmud  fragments  of  composi- 
tions by  women  for  such  occasions  are  to  be  found.  In- 
deed, woman  became  in  these  times  the  type  of  grief  and 
sorrow.  She  cannot  reason,  but  she  feels  much  more 
deeply  than  man.  Here  is  one  instance  from  an  old 
legend :  Jeremiah  said,  "  When  I  went  up  to  Jerusalem 
(after  the  destruction  of  the  Temple)  I  lifted  my  eyes  and 
saw  there  a  lonely  woman  sitting  on  the  top  of  the  moun- 
tain, her  dress  black,  her  hair  dishevelled,  crying,  '  Who 
will  comfort  me  ? '  I  approached  her  and  spake  to  her, 
'  If  thou  art  a  woman,  speak  to  me.  If  thou  art  a  ghost, 
begone.'  She  answered,  '  Dost  thou  not  know  me  ?  ... 
I  am  the  Mother,  Zion.' " 

In  general,  however,  the  principle  applied  to  women 
was:  The  king's  daughter  within  the  palace  is  all  glorious 
(Psalm  xlv.  14),  but  not  outside  of  it.  In  the  face  of  the 
"  Femina  in  ecclesia  taceat,"  which  was  the  ruling  maxim 
with  other  religions,  Jewish  women  could  only  feel  flat- 
tered by  this  polite  treatment  by  the  Rabbis,  though  it 
meant  the  same  thing.  We  must'  not  think,  however, 
that  this  prevented  them  from  attending  the  service  of  the 
synagogue.  According  to  the  Tractate  Sopherim,  even 
"  the  little  daughters  of  Israel  were  accustomed  to  go  to 
the  synagogue."  In  the  same  tractate  we  find  it  laid 
down  as  "  a  duty  to  translate  for  them  the  portion  (of  the 
Law)  of  the  week,  and  the  lesson  from  the  prophets  "  into 
the  language  they  understand.  The  "  King's  daughter  " 
occasionally  asserted  her  rights  without  undue  reliance  on 
the  opinion  of  the  authorities.  And  thus  being  ignorant 
of  the  Hebrew  language  women  prayed  in  the  vernacular, 
though  this  was  at  least  against  the  letter  of  the  law. 
And  many  famous  Rabbis  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 


322  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

centuries  express  their  wonder  that  the  "  custom  of 
women  praying  in  other  (non-Hebrew)  languages  ex- 
tended over  the  whole  world."  It  is  noteworthy  that 
they  did  not  suppress  the  practice,  but  on  the  contrary, 
they  endeavoured  to  give  to  the  Law  such  an  interpretation 
as  would  bring  it  into  accord  with  the  general  custom. 
Some  even  recommended  it,  as,  for  example,  the  author 
of  The  Book  of  the  Piotis,  who  gives  advice  to  women  to 
learn  the  prayers  in  the  language  familiar  to  them. 

At  about  the  same  period  a  lengthy  controversy  was 
being  waged  by  the  commentators  of  the  Talmud  and  the 
codifiers,  about  woman's  partaking  in  the  fulfilment  of  the 
laws  for  special  seasons,  from  which,  as  already  remarked, 
they  were  exempted.  To  the  action  itself  there  could  not 
be  much  objection,  but  the  difficulty  arose  when  women 
also  insisted  on  uttering  the  blessing.  Now  the  point  at 
issue  was  whether  they  could  be  permitted  to  say,  for 
instance,  "  Blessed  art  Thou,  O  Lord  our  God,  etc.,  who 
hast  sanctified  us  by  Thy  Commandments,  and  hast  com- 
manded us,  concerning  the  taking  of  the  Palm  branch," 
since  in  reality  the  women  had  not  been  commanded  to  do 
it.  To  such  logical  and  systematic  minds  as  Maimonides 
and  R.  Joseph  Caro,  the  difficulty  was  insurmountable, 
and  they  forbade  women  to  use  the  formula;  but  with 
the  less  consistent  majority  women  carried  their  point. 
Rather  interesting  is  the  answer  received  by  R.  Jacob,  of 
Corbeil,  with  regard  to  this  question.  This  Rabbi  is  said 
to  have  enjoyed  the  mysterious  power  which  enabled  him 
to  appeal  in  cases  of  doubt  to  the  celestial  authorities. 
Before  them  he  put  also  this  women's  case  for  decision. 
Judgment  was  communicated  to  him  in  the  verse  from  the 
Scriptures,  "  In  all  that  Sarah  saith  unto  Thee,  hearken 


WOMAN  IN  TEMPLE  AND  SYNAGOGUE  323 

unto  her  voice"  (Gen.  xxi.  12).  Nor  was  it  unknown  for 
a  pious  Jew  to  compose  a  special  hymn  for  his  wife's  use 
in  honour  of  the  Sabbath. 

How  long  this  custom  of  women  praying  in  the  vernac- 
ular lasted,  we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining.  Probably 
was  already  extinct  about  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
For  R.  Solomon  Portaleone,  who  lived  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  already  regrets  the  abolition  of  "this  beautiful 
and  worthy  custom."  "When  they  prayed  in  the  ver- 
nacular," he  says,  "  they  understood  what  they  were  say- 
ing, whilst  now  they  only  gabble  off  their  prayers."  As 
a  sort  of  compromise  we  may  regard  the  various  "  Sup- 
plications " ; 2  they  form  a  kind  of  additional  prayers  sup- 
plementary to  the  ordinary  liturgy,  and  are  written  in 
German.  Chiefly  composed  by  women,  they  specially  an- 
swer the  needs  of  the  sex  on  various  occasions.  These 
prayers  deserve  a  full  description  by  themselves,  into 
which  I  cannot  enter  here ;  I  should  like  only  to  mention 
that  in  one  of  these  collections  in  the  British  Museum,  a 
special  supplication  is  added  for  servant-maids,  and  if  I 
am  not  quite  mistaken,  also  one  for  their  mistresses. 

It  is  also  worth  noticing  that  the  manuals  on  the 
"  Three  Women's  Commandments  "  (mostly  composed  in 
German,  sometimes  also  in  rhymes),  contained  much  more 
than  their  titles  would  suggest.  They  rather  served  as 
headings  to  groups  of  laws,  arranged  under  each  com- 
mandment. Thus  the  first  (about  certain  laws  in  Lev.  xii. 
and  xv.)  becomes  the  motto  for  purity  in  body  and  soul ; 
the  second  (the  consecration  of  the  first  cake  of  the 
dough)  includes  all  matters  relating  to  charity,  in  which 
women  were  even  reminded  to  encourage  their  newly 
married  husbands  not  to  withhold  from  the  poor  the 


324  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

tithes  of  the  bridal  dowry,  as  well  as  of  their  future  yearly 
income ;  whilst  the  third  (the  lighting  of  the  Sabbath 
lamp)  becomes  the  symbol  for  spiritual  light  and  sweet- 
ness in  every  relation  of  human  life. 

As  another  compromise  may  also  be  considered  the  in- 
stitution of  "Vorsugern' '(woman-reader)  or  the  "Woilken- 
nivdicke  "  (the  well-knowing  one)  who  reads  the  prayers 
and  translates  them  into  the  vernacular  for  the  benefit 
of  her  less  learned  sisters.  In  Poland  and  in  Russia,  even 
at  the  present  time,  such  a  woman-reader  is  to  be  found 
in  every  synagogue,  and  from  what  I  have  heard  the  insti- 
tution is  by  no  means  unknown  in  London.  The  various 
prayer-books  containing  the  Hebrew  text  as  well  as  the 
Jewish-German  translation,  which  appear  in  such  frequent 
editions  in  Russia,  are  mostly  intended  for  the  use  of 
these  praying  women.  Not  uninteresting  is  the  title-page 
of  R.  Aaron  Ben  Samuel's  Jewish-German  translations 
and  collections  of  prayers  which  appeared  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  eighteenth  century.  He  addressed  the  Jewish 
public  in  the  following  terms :  "  My  dear  brethren,  buy 
this  lovely  prayer-book  or  wholesome  tonic  for  body  and 
soul,  which  has  never  appeared  in  such  German  print 
since  the  world  began  ;  and  make  your  wives  and  children 
read  it  often,  thus  they  will  refresh  their  bodies  and  souls, 
for  this  light  will  shine  forth  into  your  very  hearts.  As 
soon  as  the  children  read  it  they  will  understand  their 
prayers,  by  which  they  will  enjoy  both  this  world  and  the 
world  to  come." 

An  earlier  translator  of  the  prayer-book  addresses  him- 
self directly  to  the  "  pious  women  "  whom  he  invites  to  buy 
his  book,  "  in  which  they  will  see  very  beautiful  things." 
Recent  centuries  seem,  on  the  whole,  to  have  been  dis- 


WOMAN  IN   TEMPLE  AND   SYNAGOGUE 


325 


tinguished  for  the  number  of  praying-women  they  pro- 
duced. The  virtues  which  constituted  the  claim  of  women 
to  religious  distinction  were  modesty,  charity,  and  daily  at- 
tendance at  the  synagogue  morning  and  evening.  In  the 
memorial  books  of  the  time  hundreds  of  such  women  are 
noticed.  Some  used  also  to  spin  the  "  Fringes,"  which 
they  presented  to  their  friends ;  others  fasted  frequently, 
whilst  "  Old  Mrs.  Hechele  "  not  only  attended  the  syna- 
gogue every  day,  and  did  charity  to  poor  and  rich,  but  also 
understood  the  art  of  midwifery,  which  she  practised  in  the 
community  without  accepting  payment  for  her  services. 
According  to  R.  Ch.  J.  Bachrach  women  used  also  to  say 
the  "Magnified"  prayer  in  the  synagogue  when  their 
parents  left  no  male  posterity. 

In  bringing  to  a  close  this  very  incomplete  sketch,  per- 
haps I  ought  to  notice  the  confirmation  of  girls  introduced 
during  this  century  in  some  communities  in  Germany, 
which  the  "  Reformed  "  Rabbis  recommended,  but  of  which 
the  "  Orthodox  "  Rabbis  disapproved.  It  would  be  well  if 
in  the  heat  of  such  controversies  both  sides  would  remem- 
ber the  words  of  R.  Zedekiah  b.  Abraham,  of  Rome,  who 
with  regard  to  a  certain  difference  of  opinion  on  some 
ritual  question,  says :  "  Every  man  receives  reward  from 
God  for  what  he  is  convinced  is  the  right  thing,  if  this 
conviction  has  no  other  motive  but  the  love  of  God." 


XIV 

THE  EARLIEST  JEWISH  COMMUNITY 
IN  EUROPE 

ROMAN  Judaism  has  disappeared  from  our  guide-books. 
Civilisation  has  levelled  down  the  walls  of  the  Ghetto,  and 
its  former  inhabitants  are  not  any  longer  "  a  people  that 
dwell  alone."  But  with  this  well-deserved  destruction 
a  good  deal  of  the  interest  was  also  destroyed  which  the 
traveller  used  to  attach  to  "  the  -peculiar  people  "  enclosed 
in  that  terrible  slum  of  Rome. 

Still,  if  there  is  anything  eternal  in  the  "  eternal  city," 
which  was  neither  reconstructed  by  the  Caesars,  nor  im- 
proved upon  by  the  Popes,  it  is  the  little  Jewish  commu- 
nity at  Rome.  It  has  survived  the  former ;  it  has  suffered 
for  many  centuries  under  the  latter,  and,  partaking  in  the 
general  revival  which  has  come  upon  the  Italian  nation, 
it  may  still  be  destined  for  a  great  future.  Indeed,  the 
history  of  the  relation  of  Israel  to  Rome  is  so  old  that  it  is 
not  lacking  even  in  legendary  elements.  On  the  day  on 
which  King  Solomon  married  the  daughter  of  Pharaoh, 
the  Rabbis  narrate,  there  came  down  the  angel  Gabriel. 
He  put  a  reed  into  the  sea,  which,  by  means  of  the  slime 
that  adhered  to  it,  formed  itself,  in  the  course  of  time, 
into  a  large  island,  on  which  the  city  of  Rome  was  built  — 
an  event  with  which  the  troubles  of  Israel  began.  These 

326 


EARLIEST  JEWISH  COMMUNITY  IN  EUROPE       327 

were  the  evil  consequences  of  the  first  mesalliance.  Even 
more  unfortunate  for  Israel  (and  it  is  not  impossible  that 
this  is  the  meaning  of  the  legend)  were  the  results  of  that 
spiritual  mixed  marriage  between  Judaism  and  paganism 
which  took  place  at  a  much  later  period,  whereat  a  blunt 
soldier,  who  sympathised  with  neither,  and  "who  dealt  in 
salvation  as  he  dealt  in  provinces,"  acted  as  best  man. 
As  a  fact,  the  parties  concerned  never  understood  each 
other  properly.  The  declaration  of  love,  and  the  final 
proposal,  were  made  in  an  Alexandrine  jargon,  strange  to 
both,  the  obscurities  of  which  only  grew  with  the  com- 
mentaries each  successive  generation  added  to  them. 
Under  such  circumstances,  a  happy  union  was  not  to  be 
expected,  and  the  family  quarrel  which  fills  the  annals  of 
civilised  Europe  soon  broke  out.  Judaism,  more  particu- 
larly Roman  Judaism,  witnessed  this  struggle  from  the 
beginning,  and  its  fortunes  were  greatly  dependent  on 
the  chance  which  of  these  two  elements,  the  Jewish  or  the 
pagan,  won  the  ascendency. 

However,  I  am  theologising  too  much,  whilst  I  am 
deviating  from  the  subject  of  these  lines.  Nor  could  I 
think  of  giving  here,  even  in  outline,  the  history  of  the 
oldest  Jewish  community  in  Europe.  This  has  been 
already  admirably  done  by  Dr.  A.  Berliner,  who  has  made 
the  history  of  the  Jews  of  Rome  the  subject  of  his  studies 
for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century.  I  intend  only  to  repro- 
duce here,  in  a  stray  fashion,  some  of  those  impressions 
and  reflections  which,  I  am  certain,  must  occur  to  every 
Jewish  traveller  in  Italy. 

Now  I  do  not  think  for  a  moment  that  we  Jews  should 
have  a  point  of  view  of  our  own  for  looking  at  things  and 
men  in  this  paradise  of  Europe.  It  would  be  as  silly  to 


328  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

have  a  Jewish  Baedeker  as  to  think  of  orthodox  mathe- 
matics or  an  ecclesiastical  logic  or  a  racial  morality  — 
though  unfortunately  there  exist  such  things.  But  on  the 
other  hand,  if  we  have  not,  like  the  fox  in  the  fable,  left 
our  heart  at  home,  let  us  not* do  violence  to  our  feelings  by 
passing  over  everything  Jewish,  over  sights  which  might 
remind  us  of  our  history,  with  a  certain  indifference  which 
would  be  affected  on  our  part.  We  are  not  all  little 
Goethes,  nor  even  little  Ruskins,  and  our  artistic  enjoy- 
ment is  hardly  so  intense  as  to  shut  our  hearts  against 
impressions  which  force  themselves  upon  us  either  by 
the  way  of  remembrance  of  the  past,  or  even  as  a  living 
contrast  in  the  present. 

It  so  happened  that  my  first  visit  to  the  Vatican  was 
on  a  Friday.  After  doing  my  work  in  the  Vatican 
Library,  which  is  open  till  noon,  I  went  into  the  adjoining 
Church  of  St.  Peter. 

One  should  be,  like  the  angel  of  death  in  the  legend, 
full  of  eyes,  properly  to  see  all  the  wonders  of  art  and 
marvels  of  architecture  at  which  human  genius  and  piety 
laboured  busily  through  centuries,  in  adorning  the  grand- 
est of  sacred  buildings  in  the  world.  But  there  is  Bae- 
deker or  Murray  serving  at  least  as  a  pair  of  good  specta- 
cles to  the  layman,  and  it  was  by  their  aid  that  I  made  my 
round  in  St.  Peter.  But  lo,  whilst  you  are  observing  the 
celebrated  Pieta  by  Michael  Angelo,  and,  according  to 
the  instruction  of  your  guides,  admiring  both  the  grief 
of  the  Mother  and  the  death  of  the  Son,  you  notice  in  its 
vicinity  a  little  column,  surrounded  by  rails  to  which  the 
pilgrims  approach  with  a  certain  awe ;  for  "  Tradition 
affirms  it  to  have  been  brought  from  Jerusalem."  Natu- 
rally, one  is  instantly  reminded  of  the  report,  given  by  the 


EARLIEST  JEWISH  COMMUNITY  IN  EUROPE       339 

famous  traveller  of  Tudela,  of  the  curiosities  of  Rome, 
which  among  other  things  records,  "  That  there  are  also 
to  be  seen  in  St.  Giovanni  in  Porta  Latina  (probably 
meant  for  Lateran)  the  two  brazen  pillars,  constructed 
by  King  Solomon  of  blessed  memory,  whose  name, 
Solomon,  the  son  of  David,  is  engraved  upon  each ;  of 
which  he  was  also  told  that  every  year  about  the  Qth 
of  Ab  (the  anniversary  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem), 
these  pillars  sweat  so  much  that  water  runs  down  from 
them."  So  far  Benjamin  of  Tudela  in  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury. In  our  days  pillars  weep  no  longer,  and  even  of 
men  it  is  considered  a  special  sign  of  good  breeding  to 
behave  pillar-like;  but  a  sigh  is  still  permissible  at  the 
sight  of  this  temple-column,  which  in  its  captivity  sym- 
bolises, not  less  than  the  Pieta,  the  grief  of  a  whole 
people.  Of  course,  not  possessing  on  the  spot  either 
the  Itinerary  or  even  Urlick,  one  is  unable  to  establish 
the  connection  between  these  two  traditions  and  their 
claim  to  authenticity.  Perhaps  one  may  even  comfort 
oneself  on  the  same  ground  on  which  the  famous  cure" 
tried  to  appease  his  flock  who  were  sobbing  bitterly  at 
his  telling  them  the  Passion  story.  He  exclaimed :  "  My 
children,  do  not  weep  so  much ;  it  happened  long  ago, 
and  even  perhaps  is  not  quite  true." 

However,  the  Vatican  is  the  last  place  in  the  world  to 
exercise  your  critical  faculties ;  you  are  so  deeply  absorbed 
in  seeing,  that  you  have  no  time  to  think.  So  on  I  went, 
from  aisle  to  aisle,  from  niche  to  niche,  from  chapel  to 
chapel,  looking,  staring,  and  admiring,  till  of  a  sudden  my 
eyes  were  struck  by  a  large  statue,  on  which  the  words, 
"Thou  shalt  have  no  other  God  before  me,"  are  engraved. 
There  I  stood  before  a  question  of  exegesis,  where  one  is 


33O  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

permitted  to  use  his  right  senses  without  any  regard  to 
the  aesthetic  side.  Yet  not  all  the  manifold  expositions 
of  the  Decalogue,  nor  all  the  talk  about  the  subjective- 
objective,  the  absolute  and  the  real,  with  which  metaphy- 
sicians have  tried  to  confuse  the  notion  of  the  Unity  of 
God,  will  reconcile  one  to  the  meaning  which  Mediaeval 
Art  has  impressed  upon  the  Ten  Commandments.  The 
truth  has  to  be  sought  elsewhere,  and  thus  my  thoughts 
were  turned  to  the  synagogue,  and  thither  I  went. 

The  day  was  already  drawing  to  its  close,  and,  by  a 
marvellous  coincidence,  I  arrived  at  the  synagogue  just  as 
the  congregation  was  intoning  the  words:  "The  Lord  is 
one,  and  His  name  is  one  to  His  renown  and  glory." 
Here  was  sound,  simple  exegesis,  though  sadly  lacking 
in  the  illustrative  matter  in  which  the  Vatican  is  so  rich. 
But  what  need  was  there  of  any  real  or  artificial  "  aid  to 
the  believer,"  in  the  presence  of  such  a  living  faith,  as 
enabled  this  little  community  to  maintain  its  protesting 
position  in  the  teeth  of  the  mistress  of  the  world !  And 
this  even  at  a  time,  when  it  only  required  a  hint  from  the 
successors  of  the  old  Roman  Emperors  to  make  the  whole 
world  renounce  its  right  of  thinking  and  judging,  and, 
were  we  to  believe  Herr  Janssen,  even  to  feel  perfectly 
happy  in  this  torpor. 

But,  by  the  way,  are  our  own  times  much  better  ?  As 
I  write  these  lines  (October  1893)  I  hear  that  a  Bill  has 
been  brought  into  the  German  Diet,  asking  that  the  Tal- 
mud should  be  submitted  to  a  Commission  (which  en  pas- 
sant, has  been  sitting  in  unbroken  session  in  that  country 
since  the  days  of  Pfefferkorn  in  the  fifteenth  century) 
with  the  purpose  of  examining  its  contents,  while  in  the 
Vatican  the  very  pupils  of  Loyola  are  offering  every  con- 


EARLIEST  JEWISH  COMMUNITY  IN  EUROPE       33! 

venience  and  comfort  to  the  student  who  should  care  to 
devote  his  time  to  Rabbinic  literature.  Does  not  the  work 
of  a  great  number  of  our  poets,  historians,  theologians, 
and  so-called  seers  in  this  blessed  century  of  ours,  in  many 
respects  prove  but  a  strained  effort  to  destroy  the  few 
humanitarian  principles  which  were  established  a  few 
generations  ago,  as  well  as  to  deify  every  brutal  warrior 
who  was  successful  in  his  day  ?  Again,  is  the  national 
idea  so  much  sublimer,  so  much  grander,  than  that  of  a 
universal  religion,  that  we  would  willingly  permit  the 
former  to  employ  the  means  which  have  been  denied  to 
the  latter  as  inhuman  and  barbarous  ?  Every  age  has  its 
own  idolatry,  and  the  eternal  wandering  Jew  will  always 
be  the  chosen  victim  of  the  Moloch  in  fashion. 

Let  us,  however,  return  to  the  synagogue,  which  with- 
stood many  a  cruelty,  both  ancient  and  modern.  The 
place  where  the  synagogue  stands  is  near  the  Ghetto, 
now  called  Piazza  di  Scuola.  It  is,  besides  a  few  other 
communal  houses,  the  only  building  left  there,  —  all  those 
narrow,  dirty,  and  typhoid-breeding  streets  which  formed 
the  old  Ghetto  having  been  demolished  by  a  sage  and 
humane  government,  which  by  this  action  wiped  out  the 
last  stain  from  its  history.  There,  on  this  vast  blank  is 
the  synagogue,  a  comparatively  small,  insignificant  build- 
ing, laden  with  heavy  age  and  looking  down  on  her 
children  whom  she  has  been  nursing,  consoling,  and  pro- 
tecting for  centuries,  but  who,  now  grown  old,  have  for- 
saken her  and  scattered  to  all  the  ends  of  the  city.  Of 
all  her  former  acquaintances  there  appears  to  be  left 
only  father  Tiber,  who  would  seem  to  be  murmuring  to 
her  many  an  old  tale  of  the  times  before  she  was  called 
into  existence.  And  if  he  listened  to  the  special  prayers 


332  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

recited  within  her  walls  by  the  deputies  of  the  Jewish 
communities,  when  preparing  themselves  to  go  to  the 
court  of  the  Pope,  the  Tiber  heard  many  a  sigh  and 
cry,  wrung  out  from  the  heart  of  a  Jewish  captive  who, 
preferring  death  to  slavery  even  under  the  masters  of 
the  world,  found  his  last  repose  in  its  waters.  But  insig- 
nificant as  this  synagogue  appears,  she  proved  the  spirit- 
ual bulwark  against  all  the  attacks  of  the  time,  and  you 
admire  her  brave  resistance  all  the  more  when  you  look 
at  that  multitude  of  churches  and  cloisters  in  the  closest 
vicinity  of  the  Ghetto,  impressing  you  as  so  many  in- 
trenchments,  all  directing  their  missiles  and  weapons 
against  this  humble,  defenceless  building,  threatening  it 
with  death  and  destruction.  One  of  these  churches, 
probably  founded  by  some  Jewish  convert,  who  gained 
in  it  both  salvation  and  a  good  living,  bears  on  its  gates 
in  Hebrew  letters  the  inscription :  "  I  have  spread  out 
my  hands  all  the  day  unto  a  rebellious  people,  which 
walketh  in  the  way  that  was  not  good,  after  their  own 
thoughts.  A  people  that  provoketh  me  to  anger  con- 
tinually to  my  face "  (Isaiah  Ixv.  2,  3).  Menace  is  fol- 
lowed by  persuasion,  the  cited  verses  being  accompanied 
by  the  Latin  words :  "  Indulgentia  plenaria  quotodiana 
perpetua  pro  vivis  et  defunctis."  Theologians  who  like 
to  quarrel  most  about  things  they  can  know  least,  have 
for  ages  discussed  the  question,  whether  prayers  for  the 
dead  are  of  any  use;  here  the  matter  is  decided  by  a 
simple  advertisement.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  one 
would  enjoy  the  fortunes  accumulated  by  one's  late  sin- 
ner of  an  uncle  all  the  better  for  being  sure  that  a  few 
pennyworths  of  prayer  enable  the  legatee  to  make  one's 
benefactor  in  Hades  comfortable  and  happy. 


EARLIEST  JEWISH  COMMUNITY  IN  EUROPE       333 

The  thought  is  very  consoling  indeed,  and  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  the  Roman  synagogue  could  not  entirely 
withstand  its  temptations,  and  introduced  into  the  offering- 
blessing  after  one  is  called  up  to  the  Torah,  the  words : 
"To  the  advancing  of  the  soul  of  the  departed."  Of 
course  much  of  this  tendency  may  be  attributed  to  the 
Ford  Jabbok,1  which  was  and  is  still  very  popular  in 
that  country ;  but  the  fact  that  the  author  of  this  Jewish 
"Book  of  the  Dead  "was  an  Italian  (from  Modena),  shows 
clearly  that  there  was  some  Catholic  influence  at  work, 
from  which  even  the  fellow-countrymen  of  Azariah  de 
Rossi  and  Judah  Messer  Leon  could  not  entirely  emanci- 
pate themselves. 

I  ought  to  have  spoken  of  Roman  synagogues,  since 
the  building  in  the  Ghetto  to  which  I  have  been  constantly 
alluding  comprises  four  prayer-houses  devoted  to  Spanish 
and  Italian  rites.  It  says  much  for  Roman  Judaism,  that 
they  did  not  consider  ritual  differences  of  such  importance 
as  to  prevent  them  from  forming  one  community  for  all 
charitable  and  congregational  purposes.  In  Verona  and 
in  Modena  some  congregations  even  retained  the  German 
rite,  which  their  ancestors  who  immigrated  from  the  Rhine 
provinces  brought  with  them,  whilst  they  accepted  the 
Spanish  pronunciation.  I  wish  that  the  Anglo-JewiSh 
community  could  see  their  way  to  imitate  their  example. 
Not  that  I  think  for  a  moment  that  the  Spanish  pronun- 
ciation is  more  correct  than  the  German.  Each  system 
has  its  own  mistakes  and  corruptions;  and  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  the  prophet  Isaiah,  or  even  the  author 
of  Ecclesiastes,  would  be  as  little  able  to  follow  the 
prayers  in  Bevis  Marks  as  in  Duke's  Place.  But  since 
the  non-Jewish  scientific  world  has,  though  only  by  pure 


334  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

accident,  accepted  the  Spanish  way  of  reading  the  Hebrew, 
I  should  like  to  see  this  trifling  difference  of  Zfaruch  over 
fiuruch  at  last  disappear,  by  pronouncing  the  camets-vowel 
a  instead  of  0,  and  accepting  similar  little  changes,  which 
are  of  no  real  importance  to  us. 

The  inside  of  these  synagogues  is  even  more  simple 
than  their  outside.  I  was  told  that  the  synagogue  which 
was  burned  down  last  winter,  and  which  also  formed  a 
part  of  this  building,  could  boast  of  many  fine  decorations 
and  carvings,  etc.,  but  I  could  observe  nothing  of  the  kind 
in  the  synagogues  I  had  occasion  to  frequent.  Nor  is 
there  much  of  natural  decorum  in  them,  and  they  reconcile 
one  perfectly  to  the  worst  of  the  Small  Synagogues  else- 
where. I  venture  to  think  that  in  this  respect,  too,  we 
have  to  recognise  Catholic  influence.  It  was,  I  think,  one 
of  the  leaders  in  the  Oxford  Movement  who  expressed  his 
delight  at  seeing  in  Italy  a  woman  poorly-dressed  coming 
into  the  church,  who,  after  putting  down  the  basket  from 
her  back,  kneels  before  one  of  the  many  altars  and  says 
her  prayers.  A  good  deal  of  this  familiarity  in  the  place 
of  worship  may  also  be  noticed  in  the  Roman  synagogues, 
where  I  have  seen  a  woman  come  into  the  partition  for 
men,  notwithstanding  their  having  a  separate  gallery, 
without  bonnet  or  hat  on  her  head,  and  with  an  infant  in 
her  arms,  and  listen  there  to  the  prayers,  till  she  walked 
home  with  her  husband.  The  other  people  were  also 
very  restless,  coming  and  going  often,  whilst,  as  soon  as 
the  reading  of  the  Law  was  over,  the  greater  part  of  the 
worshippers  left  the  synagogue.  It  was  not  a  very  de- 
lightful sight.  A  minus  of  decorum  does  not  always  mean 
a  plus  of  devotion ;  just  as  little  as  a  maximum  of  respect- 
ability and  stiffness  are  to  be  taken  as  signs  of  true  piety. 


EARLIEST  JEWISH  COMMUNITY  IN  EUROPE       335 

It  is  not  uninteresting  to  notice  that  the  Roman  syna- 
gogue, in  spite  of  its  old  traditions,  did  not  entirely  shut 
itself  against  modern  reforms.  Among  them  there  is  that 
of  "  calling  up  the  people  to  the  Torah  "  by  the  simple  for- 
mula, "Let  the  Priest"  (or  "the  Levite  ")  "step  forth,"2 
and  so  on,  nor* mentioning  either  names  or  titles,  which  I 
should  like  to  recommend  most  strongly  to  our  congrega- 
tions. I  hope  that  no  man  will  suspect  me  of  such  heresy 
as  that  of  questioning  the  wisdom  of  the  Synagogue  Reg- 
ulations. But  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  business  of 
conferring  the  degrees  of  Rabbi,  "Associate"  or  "  Master," 
does  not  exactly  fall  within  the  sphere  of  activity  of  the 
Wardens.  The  matter  could  only  be  decided  by  a  proper 
Board  of  examination.  As  the  Council  is  not  provided 
with  such  a  Board,  nor  is  every  aspirant  to  this  honour 
prepared  to  undergo  the  examination  required,  the  wisest 
course  would  be  to  give  up  titles  altogether,  calling  up  all 
people  alike  in  the  way  indicated. 

The  robes  the  ministers  wear  (somewhat  similar  to  those 
of  the  Greek  clergy),  are  probably  also  an  innovation  of 
modern  date, — the  old  orthodox  Rabbis  looking  at  any 
special  vestment  for  the  Preacher  or  Reader  with  the  same 
feeling  of  disgust  which  the  old  Puritans  entertained  for 
surplice  or  mitre.  But  the  principle  of  "  The  Beauty  of 
Holiness "  proved  too  strong  for  resistance,  and  it  was 
only  a  pardonable  vanity  when  the  reformers  applied  it 
to  their  own  persons;  "Vanity  of  vanities,"  saith  the 
preacher,  so  often,  that  he  gets  rather  to  like  it.  This 
vanity  is  greatly  redeemed  by  the  fact  that  the  preacher 
does  not  grudge  his  uniform  to  his  humbler  brother,  the 
beadle,  who  is  in  most  cases  to  be  distinguished  from  the 
officiating  ministry  only  by  the  brass-plate  on  his  breast, 


336  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

on  which  the  word  "Servant"  is  engraved.  Considering 
the  great  confusion  arising  from  the  meaningless  "  Rever- 
end "  and 'the  universal  white  neck-tie,  such  a  label,  indi- 
cating the  proper  office  of  the  bearer,  might,  perhaps, 
prove  as  useful  among  the  English  Jews  as  it  is  among 
the  Jews  of  Rome. 

It  was  with  a  pupil  of  the  Rabbinical  College,  in  com- 
pany with  his  friends,  that  I  took  my  first  walk  through 
ancient  Rome.  I  felt  attracted  to  him  by  his  striking  face 
of  that  peculiar  fine  Jewish  type,  which  is  more  common 
among  the  Jews  in  the  East  than  among  us.  And  when 
he  was  reading  the  lesson  from  the  Prophets  in  the  syna- 
gogue, where  I  made  his  acquaintance,  he  reminded  me  of 
that  Jewish  boy  with  bright  eyes,  black  curls,  and  features 
strikingly  beautiful  walking  as  a  captive  from  Jerusalem 
through  the  streets  of  Rome  some  seventeen  centuries  ago, 
whose  proficiency  in  the  words  of  Isaiah  caused  his  re- 
demption. It  would  be  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  my 
companion's  remarks  were  very  instructive  from  an  artistic 
point  of  view.  Being  born  and  bred  in  Rome,  he  passed 
with  utter  indifference  many  objects  which  we  are  bidden 
to  admire,  whilst  at  others  he  actually  shouted  out  "  Im- 
age," or  made  some  other  prosaic  remark.  But  in  a  coun- 
try where  one  is  determined  to  play  the  heathen  for  so 
many  weeks,  to  worship  superannuated  deities,  to  get  into 
raptures  at  every  reminiscence  of  superseded  and  vanish- 
ing religions,  and  to  be  delighted  at  the  sights  of  "greasy 
saints  and  martyrs  hairy,"  there  can  be  no  great  harm  in 
being  called  back  to  one's  true  nature. 

The  feelings  crowding  upon  one,  when  entering  that 
part  of  the  ancient  city  which  probably  was  in  the  mind 
of  the  Rabbis  when  they  spoke  of  "Guilty  Rome,"  are 


EARLIEST  JEWISH  COMMUNITY  IN  EUROPE       337 

of  a  conflicting  nature.  Every  stone  and  every  brick 
there  saw  the  humiliation  of  Israel,  in  every  theatre  and 
every  circus  the  Jew  served  as  a  comic  figure,  and  was 
held  up  to  ridicule,  whilst  there  was,  perhaps,  hardly  a 
single  lane  or  gate  through  which  those  who  resented 
the  yoke  of  the  "  anti-Semites  of  Antiquity  "  did  not  pass, 
in  order  to  "be  butchered  to  make  a  Roman  holiday.'' 
What  concerns  a  Jew  most  in  this  perished  world  of 
ruins,  and  at  the  same  time  causes  him  the  deepest  grief, 
is  the  triumphal  arch  of  Titus,  "commemorating  the  de- 
feat of  the  Jews,  and  dedicated  to  him  by  his  successor, 
Domitian."  Enough  has  been  said  and  written  about  it 
both  by  antiquarians  and  theologians,  the  former  admir- 
ing the  workmanship  of  the  reliefs,  the  latter  perceiving 
in  it  a  proof  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  well-known  passages 
in  the  New  Testament  about  the  destruction  of  the  Tem- 
ple, which  came  to  pass  in  spite  of  the  efforts  made  by 
Titus  to  save  it.  Those  who  have  read  Bernay's  essay  on 
the  "Chronik  des  Sulpicius  Severus "  know  that  the  be- 
haviour of  "  the  delight  of  the  human  species "  on  that 
occasion  is  rather  open  to  doubt,  and  it  is  more  probable 
that,  instead  of  trying  to  rescue  it,  he  commanded  that 
it  should  be  set  on  fire.  Josephus,  who  witnessed  the 
shame  of  his  compatriots  and  co-religionists,  has  left  us 
a  full  account  of  the  triumphal  procession.  Only  a 
flunkey  like  Josephus  could  maintain  that  calm  indiffer- 
ence with  which  he  describes  the  events  of  the  "bitter 
day,"  the  perusal  of  which  makes  one's  blood  boil.  His 
description  fairly  agrees  with  the  famous  relief  on  the 
arch,  showing  that  part  of  the  procession  in  which  the 
table  with  the  shewbread,  the  candlestick  with  the  seven 
lamps,  and  the  golden  trumpets  figure  as  the  chief  ob- 


338  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

jects.  The  only  thing  which  we  miss  is  the  "  Law  of 
the  Jews,"  which,  according  to  Josephus,  was  carried  in 
the  triumph  as  "the  last  of  all  the  spoils."  Was  it  only 
an  oversight  of  the  artist,  or  had  he  no  place  for  it,  or  is 
it  Josephus  who  committed  the  error,  mistaking  some 
other  object  for  the  Scroll  of  the  Law  ?  I  dearly  hope 
that  this  last  was  the  case,  and  that  Heine  was  under  the 
impulse  of  a  true  and  real  and  poetic  inspiration  when  he 
wrote  (speaking  of  the  Holy  Scripture  to  which  he  owed 
his  conversion) :  "  The  Jews,  who  appreciate  the  value 
of  precious  things,  knew  right  well  what  they  did  when, 
at  the  burning  of  the  second  temple  they  left  to  their  fate 
the  golden  and  silver  implements  of  sacrifice,  the  candle- 
sticks and  lamps,  even  the  breastplate  of  the  High  Priest 
adorned  with  great  jewels,  but  saved  the  Bible.  This 
was  the  real  treasure  of  the  temple,  and,  thanks  be  to 
God !  it  was  not  left  a  prey  to  the  flames,  nor  to  the  fury 
of  Titus  Vespasian,  the  wretch,  who,  as  the  Rabbi  tells  us, 
met  with  so  dreadful  a  death." 

However,  there  were  others  who  brought  the  glad  tid- 
ings of  the  Old  Testament  to  Rome  long  before  there 
existed  a  New  one.  And  this  is,  on  the  other  side,  what 
makes  Rome  a  sort  of  Terra  Sancta  even  to  the  Jew.  It 
is  true  that  we  have  not  to  look  for  the  footprints  of  the 
prophets,  for  whom  even  tradition  never  claimed  "  the  gift 
of  missionary-travelling."  But  might  not  the  ground  there 
have  received  a  sort  of  consecration  by  the  fact  that  it  was 
traversed  by  the  ambassadors  of  Judas  Maccabaeus  (about 
161  B.C.)  "  to  make  a  league  of  amity  and  confederacy" 
with  the  Roman  Senate  ?  Of  the  embassy  of  Simon  the 
Maccabee  (about  140  B.C.)  there  is  actual  historical  evi- 
dence that  they  began  to  propagate  in  Rome  the  Jewish 


EARLIEST  JEWISH  COMMUNITY  IN  EUROPE       339 

religion.  Some  seventy  or  eighty  years  later  the  Jews 
had  already  their  own  quarter  in  Rome,  with  their  own 
synagogues,  which  they  were  in  the  habit  of  visiting, 
"  most  especially  on  the  sacred  Sabbath  days,  when  they 
publicly  cultivate  their  national  philosophy."  That  many 
of  the  oldest  teachers  of  Israel,  the  Tannaim,  went  to 
Rome  as  deputies,  and  that  one  of  them  (R.  Mathia  ben 
Chares)  founded  a  school  there  early  in  the  second  cen- 
tury, is  also  an  authenticated  fact.  One  would  like  to 
know  what  they  taught,  and  in  what  way  they  expounded 
their  national  philosophy.  Most  of  all  one  would  like  to 
know  what  were  the  spiritual  means  they  employed  in 
their  proselytising  work,  in  which  they  were,  according  to 
the  testimony  of  history,  so  successful.  Did  they  preach 
in  the  streets  ?  Or  did  they  hold  public  controversies  ? 
Or  did  they  even  send  out  Epistles  which,  in  form  at  least, 
served  as  a  model  to  apostles  of  another  creed?  How 
many  a  problem  would  be  solved ;  how  many  a  miracle 
would  disappear  ;  how  many  a  book  would  become  super- 
fluous, if  we  could  obtain  certainty  about  these  points! 
The  Talmud  tells  us  little,  almost  nothing,  about  these 
important  things,  whilst  we  get  from  the  Roman  writers 
only  sneers  and  raillery.  To  these  respectable  Romans 
the  Jews  were  only  a  mob  of  unlettered  atheists.  Indeed, 
to  a  good  orthodox  heathen,  a  religion  without  images  and 
statues,  with  a  God  without  a  pedigree  and  without  a 
theogony,  was  an  impossible  thing.  Those  poor  meta- 
physicians ! 

However,  why  dwell  so  long  on  a  past  world?  A 
famous  Rabbi  once  exclaimed  :  "  If  a  man  would  ask  thee, 
'  Where  is  thy  God  ? '  answer  him  :  '  In  the  great  city  of 
Rome.' "  The  underlying  idea  was  the  mystical  notion 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

that  wherever  Israel  had  to  migrate,  they  were  accom- 
panied by  the  Divine  presence.  And  Rome  was,  in  the 
times  of  the  Rabbis,  the  point  to  which  the  streams  of 
Jewish  migration  from  the  Holy  Land  chiefly  converged. 
But  now,  instead  of  to  Rome,  might  we  not  point  to  Lon- 
don and  New  York  as  centres  of  Jewish  migrations  ? 


NOTES 


I.    THE   CHASSIDIM 

i.  SUBJOINED  is  A  LIST  OF  SELECTED  AUTHORITIES  ON  THE  SUB- 
JECT OF  THE  CHASSIDIM.—  Historical  and  Bibliographical  Works: 
Graetz  (xi.  including  the  polemical  literature  quoted  in  the  Appendix), 
Jost,  Peter  Beer,  M.  Bodek  (annn  nnnn  -no,  Lemberg,  1865),  A.  Wai- 
den  (j'-nn  n^run  oe>,  Warschau,  1864),  Finn  (njcw  nnp,  Wilna,  1860), 
D.  Kahana  (Sow  pN  in  the  periodical  nnyn,  iv.),  Zederbaum  (rmns  ins, 
Odessa,  1868).  Essays  and  Satires:  T.  Erter  (noixn,  Wien,  1858), 
S.  Szantd  (Jahrbuch  fur  Israeliten,  p.  108-178,  1867),  A.  Gottlober 
(in  his  periodical  -nN  npisn,  Hi.),  L.  Low  (Ben  Chananjah,  ii.),  Ruder- 
mann  (irwn,  vi.),  Rapoport  (mim  nSm,  Lemberg,  1873,  p.  10),  Frohlich 
(•p-non,  Warschau,  1876,  p.  63  seq.},  S.  Maimon  (Autobiographic, 
Berlin,  1792).  Compare  also  the  Hebrew  novels  by  P.  Smolensky, 
L.  Gordon,  M.  Brandstatter,  A.  Gottlober  and  B.  Horowitz  (German). 
Occasional  references  to  the  liturgy  or  the  system  of  the  Chassidim  in 
the  "Responses"  of  R.  Ezechiel  Landau,  Moses  Sopher,  E.  Flekeles 
and  T.  Steinhart,  and  in  the  works  of  Israel  Samostsch,  Salomon 
Chelma  and  Chayim  Walosin.  Compare  also  Zunz  (Gottesdienstliche 
Vortrage,  p.  477)  and  L.  Low  (Mannheimer  Album,  Wien,  1874), 
Senior  Sachs  (n>mn,  i.  61)  and  B.  L.  Zeitlin  (rwp  nirn,  Paris,  1846). 
The  best  book  on  the  whole  subject  is  E.  Zweifel's  work  SXTJ"  hy  DiSc* 
(Zitomyr  1868,  three  parts),  which  I  strongly  recommend  to  students. 
The  books  written  by  the  Chassidim  would  amount  to  more  than  200. 
They  are  catalogued  by  Bodek  and  Walden.  I  shall  only  draw  the 
attention  of  the  student  to  the  works  of  Beer,  Salomon  Ladier,  and 
Mendel  Witipsker  on  one  side,  who  developed  the  theory  of  the 
Immanence,  and  those  of  Nach'man  Braslaw  and  Melech  Liezensker, 
who,  on  the  other  hand,  carried  the  theory  of  Zaddikism  to  its  utmost 
consequences.  The  student  will  find  a  fair  collection  of  sayings  and 
sentences  arranged  according  to  theological  subjects  in  the  books  TH 
o>TDn  and  a>D:>n  prS  (Anon.,  Lemberg,  1876). 


342  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

2.  o-iTDn,  "pious  ones"  (Ps.  xxxvii.  28,  Ixx.  2,  etc.).     The  reader 
is  probably  acquainted  with  the  term  from   the   Maccabean   history 
(i   Mace.  ii.  42,  vii.   13),  in  which  the  strict  party,  opposed  to  all 
Hellenistic  influence,  are  called  "Assideans"  [R.V.  "  Hasidaeans"], 
Gr.  'Ao-iScuoi. 

3.  DB>  hyz,  "The  Master  of  the  Name,"  a  term  usually  applied  to 
exorcists,  who  cast  out  devils  and  performed  other  miracles  through 
adjuration  by  the  name  of  God  (or  angels).     The  unbelieving  Rabbis 
maintained  indeed  that  in  his  exorcisms  Baalshem  employed  "  impure 
names"  (of  devils),  whilst  the  Chassidim,  on  the  other  hand,  declared 
that  their  Master  never  used  "  names  "  at  all,  his  miracles  being  per- 
formed by  the  divine  in  Baalshem  to  which  all  nature  owes  obedience. 
Occasionally  the  Chassidim  call  him  ata  os>  Spa  (The  Man  of  Good 
Name),  in  allusion  to  Eccles.  vii.  I,  shortened  by  some  into  Besht. 

4.  tf-ncn  rua  —  "House  of  Research"  or  of  "study"  (of  the  Law), 
but  in  which  also  divine  service  is  held  thrice  a  day. 

5.  DDH  TnSn —  "Disciple  of  the  Wise,"  the  usual  title  of  a  scholar 
or  student. 

6.  A  Jewish  sect,   so  called  after  their  founder  Jacob   Leibovicz 
Frank,  who  was  himself  one  of  the  apostles  of  the  pseudo-Messiah 
Shabbethai  Tsebi  of  Smyrna  in  Turkey.     Among  his  other  doctrines 
he  taught  also  a  sort  of  Trinity,  consisting  of  the  Holy  Ancient  One, 
the  Holy  King  or  the  Messiah,  and  a  feminine  person  in  the  Godhead, 
in  which  he,  like  his  master,  represented  the  Second  Person.    The  sect 
ultimately  abolished  the  Law,  and,  after  many  controversies  with  the 
Rabbinic  Jews,  went  over  to  Catholicism,  the  dominant  religion  in 
Poland,  by  which  they  were  soon  absorbed.     Eybeschiitz,  chief  Rabbi 
of  Prague  and  Hamburg,  was  suspected  by  Emden  to  be  a  secret 
adherent  of  Shabbethai  Tsebi,  which  was  tantamount  to  apostasy  from 
Judaism.     Eybeschiitz  protested.     The  litigants  excommunicated  each 
other,  and  the  Rabbis  divided  into  two  camps,  taking  sides  either  with 
Emden  or  with  his  antagonist. 

7.  The  works  of  Maimonides  or  Moses  b.  Maimon  (1135-1204)  are 
too  many  to  be  enumerated  here.     The  most  important  are  the  Guide 
of  the  Perplexed  (o-oiaj  mir)  and  his  Compendium  of  the  Law  (nyro 
min).    Judah  Halle vi  or  Abul  Hassan  flourished  in  the  first  half  of  the 
twelfth  century.     He  is  well  known  as  a  poet  by  his  Divan  and  as  a 


NOTES 


343 


deep  religious  thinker  by  his  Cusari.  The  former  contains  also  many 
songs  of  a  secular  nature.  Isaac  Alfasi  (died  1103)  is  best  known  by 
his  Compendium  of  the  Talmud,  which  was  so  greatly  admired  by  his 
contemporaries  that  they  declared  it  could  never  have  been  composed 
"without  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  R.  Solomon  b.  Isaac,  also 
called  by  his  initials  Rashi  (1040-1105),  is  well  known  by  his  com- 
mentaries on  the  Bible  and  the  Talmud. 

8.  wan,  on. 

9.  ISD,  Sepher. 

10.  The  Hebrew  word  is  SieSe,  meaning  subtle  discussion  and  sharp 
distinction.     The  word  is  closely  related  to  So1?^  or  NSoSe,  which  means 
"  pepper  "  or  "  seasoning." 

11.  «iny  onno  =  R.  Meir  Shiff,  whose  novella  on  the  Talmud  are  of  a 
very  subtle  kind,  and  were  very  popular  with  the  students  of  this  work. 

12.  OPTION  —  a>Njr,  "  The  Repeaters,"  and  "  The  Interpreters."   The 
sayings  and  statements  of  the  former  are  embodied  in  the  Mishnah.  a 
work  compiled  by  R.  Judah  the  Saint  about  220  A.C.,  and  covering  a 
period  of  about  250  years  (30  B.C.-22O  A.C.).      The  latter  occupied 
themselves  mainly  with  the  interpretation  of  the  Mishnah,  and  their 
discussions  and  controversies  are  incorporated  in  the  Talmud  of  Jeru- 
salem and  that  of  Babylon,  and  extend  over  the  period  from  220-500 
A.c.     The  Talmud  of  Jerusalem  is  mostly  the  product  of  the  schools 
of  Palestine.     The  Talmud  of  Babylon  is  a  growth  of  that  country. 
The  authorities  of  this  latter  Talmud  being  far  away  from  the  place 
where  the  first  great  Rabbis  lived  and  laboured,  their  traditions  are 
naturally  not  so  historically  reliable  as  those  of  the  Talmud  of  Jerusa- 
lem.    The  authorities  of  Palestine  were  also  simpler  in  their  method 
of  interpretation.    These  again  are  followed  by  the  Babylonian  schools 
of  new  interpreters  (of  the  Talmud) . 

13.  rs-nrv  fntr,  an  expression  that  goes  back  as  far  as  to  the  Zohar. 

14.  nnv,  "Brightness."      Cf.   Dan.  xii.  3,  — the  authors  of  "The 
Brightness"  pretending  to  be  the  Maskilim  or  "Wise  Ones"  men- 
tioned in  this  verse. 

15.  niSflB'. 

1 6.  nnntr. 

17.  nianSnn. 

18.  pnx,  pi. 


344  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 


II.    NACHMAN   KROCHMAL 

1.  R.  Johanan  b.  Zaccai  was  a  contemporary  of  the  Apostles,  and 
died  about  no  A.D.     He  belonged  to  the  peace  party  in  opposition  to 
the  Zealots,  and  obtained  permission  from  the  Roman  government  to 
establish  the  school  of  Jamnia,  which,  after  the  destruction  of  the 
Temple,   became   the   centre  of  Jewish   religious   life.      See  also   p. 
188. 

2.  R.  Saadiah  Gaon  was  born  in  Egypt  in  892,  and  died  as  the 
head  of  the  school  of  Sura  in  Babylon  in  942.     He  is  known  by  his 
translations  of  and  commentaries  on  the  Bible,  and  many  other  works, 
especially  his  philosophical  treatise  Creeds  and  Opinions.      He  was 
also  a  great  controversialist.     Most  of  his  polemical  writings  are  di- 
rected against  the  Caraites  (^«op)  or  "  Scripturalists,"  a  Jewish  sect 
founded  by  Anan  in  the  eighth  century.     They  protested  against  the 
Oral  Law,  and  denied  Tradition.     On  the  title  "  Gaon,"  see  note  i  to 
Elijah  Wilna. 

3.  ooiaj  rnio,  Moreh  Nebuchim,  generally  considered  to  be  the 
greatest  philosophical  work  by  any  Jewish  thinker. 

4.'  R.  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  who  spent  some  time  in  London,  died 
about  1161.  He  is  best  known  by  his  commentaries  on  the  Bible.  He 
was  the  first  writer  who  doubted  the  unity  of  the  book  of  Isaiah. 

5.  -an  "pDSn. 

6.  anflim  o-'Dsn  nsSn  -vy,  meaning  "  sages  "  and  "  scribes,"  but  used 
by  later  writers  in  the  sense  given  in  the  text. 

7.  omaa,  dealing  with  the  laws  relating  to  the  firstfruits  which  were 
brought  to  the  temple  (Ex.  xxiii.  19).     The  processions  formed  by  the 
pilgrims  are  very  vividly  described  after  the  said  tractate  by  Delitzsch 
in  his  Iris,  p.  190  sq.  (English  ed.).     See  also  by  the  same  author, 
Judisches  Handiverkerleben  zur  Zeit  Jesu,  p.  66  seq. 

8.  n\jyn,  "Fast,"  or  nvjpn,  "  Fasts." 

9.  fpHJ  -no,  "  Order  of  Damages,"  treating  of  the  civil  law  of  the 
Jews,  the  procedure  of  courts  of  justice,  and  kindred  subjects.     This 
Order  also   includes   the    tractate    niaN,  Aboth   or   "Sayings    of  the 
Fathers,"  which  is  very  important  for  the  study  of  Rabbinic  doctrine 
and  ethics. 


NOTES 


345 


10.  nnno  -no,  "Order  of  Purities,"  dealing  with  the  laws  regarding 
Levitical  purity. 

11.  toco  (or  D->jro  min),  nco,  snV'oa.     These  three  works  form  the 
oldest  Rabbinic  commentary  on  Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers,  and  Deu- 
teronomy.    The  authorities  cited  in  these  commentaries  all  belong  to 
the  period  of  the  Tannaim.      See  above,  note  12  to  the  Chassidim. 
Constituting  as  they  do,  to  a  certain  extent,  one  of  the  sources  used  by 
the  Gemara,  they  are  naturally  indispensable  for  a  scientific  study  of 
the  Talmud. 

12.  ne«n,  " Hatsophe?  a  spirited  satire  against  the  orthodox  and 
especially  against  the  then  prevailing  belief  in  the  transmigration  of 
souls  taught  by  the  mystical  schools.      The  book  is  written  in  the 
purest  biblical  Hebrew. 

13.  prn  oi:n  mio. 

14.  emc,  pi.  jwnn   (Midraskim),  "  Research,"  "  Researches,"  a 
name  usually  applied  to  the  homiletical  part  of  the  Rabbinic  literature. 
The  most  important  collection  of  this  kind  is  the  Midrash  Rabbah  to 
the  Pentateuch.     The  usual  way  of  quoting  it  is  Genesis  Rabbah,  Exo- 
dus Rabbah,  and  so  on. 

15.  See  above,  note  12  to  the  Chassidim. 

16.  DTD,  "Heretics,"  applied  to  the  first  Christians,  and  more  so  to 
certain  Gnostic  sects. 

17.  TDD  n^D1?  naSn,  see  below,  p.  186  and  note. 

1 8 .  m jn  or  mjx  —  naSn,  "  rule,"  "  method,"  —  "  narrative."    The  for- 
mer deals  with  the  legal  side  of  the  Scriptures,  and  is  thus  more  of  a 
juristic  nature;    the  latter  represents  a  collection  of  homilies  having 
mostly  as  their  text  the  historical  and  exhortatory  parts  of  the  Bible, 
and  is  thus  more  of  an  edifying  character.     The  theological  side  of 
Judaism,  as  well  as  its  ideal  aspirations  and  Messianic  hopes,  find  their 
expression  in  the  Agadah.     The  two  words  are  also  used  as  adjectives, 
as  Halachic  (legalistic,  juristic,  and  obligatory)  and  Agadic  (poetic,  edi- 
fying, and  hyperbolic) . 

19.  fSn  -pp,  a  sort  of  encyclopaedia  to  the  Talmud,  of  which  only 
the  first  letter  appeared. 

20.  Menahem  Azariah  de  Rossi,  an  Italian  Jew  who  flourished  in 
the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century.     His  great  work,  DTP  TINE,  Meor 
Enayim,  "  Light  of  the  Eyes,"  is  the  first  attempt  made  by  a  Jew  to 


346  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

submit  the  statements  of  the  Talmud  to  a  critical  examination,  and  to 
question  the  value  of  tradition  in  its  historical  records. 

2.1.   -\iyh*  "-n  >|Tu>. 

22.  Italian  Jews  of  the  fifteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries.  The 
one,  Elijah  Delmedigo,  wrote  an  Examination  of  Religion,  whilst  his 
grandson,  Joseph  Solomon  Delmedigo,  wrote  various  pamphlets  of  a 
deeply  sceptical  character.  See  Geiger's  Introduction  to  his  Melo 
Chofnayim  (Berlin,  1840). 

III.    ELIJAH   WILNA 

1.  PKJ>,  "The   Great   One."      The   authorities   of  the   Babylonian 
schools  after  the  sixth  century  were  also  called  the  Gaonim  (D^INJ), 
"  [their]  Eminences."     The  title  was  also  given  afterwards  to  great 
Rabbis  distinguished  for  their  learning. 

2.  R.  Joseph  Caro  (1488-1575)  lived  in  Safed.     The  title  of  his 
code  is  in?  jnSjp,  Prepared  Table.     This  is  a  code  of  the  Oral  Law 
compiled  from  the  Rabbinic  literature. 

3.  'njDNj  nnp,  containing  an  account  of  the  Jewish  worthies  of  that 
city. 

4.  in^N  mSp. 

5.  A  famous  mystic  of  the  sixteenth  century,  from  Safed,  who  was 
the  more  admired  the  less  his  pupils  understood  him. 

6.  Hai  was  the  last  of  the  authorities  called  Gaon.     With  his  death 
(1038)  the  schools  of  Babylon  fell  into  decay  and  soon  disappeared. 

7.  ruu-i,  treating  of  the  voluntary  offerings  brought  by  the  pilgrims 
to  Jerusalem. 

8.  N-IDJ,  "  Perfection  or  Supplementary  Explanations."     By  this  is 
understood  the  interpretation  given  to  the  Mishnah  by  the  schools  in 
Palestine  and  Babylon.     See  above,  note  12  to  the  Chassidim. 

9.  See  Dean  Church's  St.  Anselm,  from  which  this  story  is  taken. 

10.  xnoDin,  "Addition"  (to  the  Mishnah),  but  also  containing  only 
the  sayings  and  discussions  of  the  period  of  the  Tannaim. 

1 1 .  aSip  -no,  "  Order  of  the  World,"  dealing  with  the  Chronology  of 
the  Bible,  and  dating  from  about  the  end  of  the  second  century. 

12.  These  "Minor  Tractates"  include,  among  others,  treatises  on 
proselytes,  on  the  laws  concerning  funerals,  the  writing  of  the  Law, 


NOTES 


347 


and  the  like.     Others  are  more  of  an  edifying  nature,  treating  of  good 
manners,  conduct,  etc. 

13.  mVj  nSap. 

14.  7\-\vy  njiDB>,  "Eighteen."     They  are  recited  thrice  a  day,  and 
form  the  original  germ  of  the  prayers,  from  which  a  very  rich  liturgy 
developed  in  the  course  of  time. 

15.  The  titles  of  the  old  authorities  from  70  B.C.  to  500  A.c.     See 
above,  note  12  to  the  Chassidim. 

16.  p-i  no  2N%,  N^J,  "Prince,"  or  "Patriarch,"  religious  head,  of  the 
Jews  (not  political),  and   "Father  (or  president)   of  the   Court   of 
Justice." 

17.  nrur,  DTiar,  "Sacrifices,"  "Offerings."     They  treat  of  the  laws 
relating  to  sacrifices  and  meal-offerings. 

1 8.  o'NSa,  the  laws  relating  to  diverse  seeds  and  garments  of  diverse 
sorts.     Cf.  Deut.  xxii.  9-11. 

19.  -PJC,  "  Teller,"  a  sort  of  travelling  preacher. 

20.  aSiS,  "palm  branch."     Cf.  Lev.  xxiii.  40. 

21.  na>B«,  "High  School,"  or  "Academy,"  in  which  the  Rabbinic 
literature  is  studied. 

22.  oi>n  yy  na^a". 

23.  jvoacD,  a  mythical  river  which  is  supposed  to  stop  its  course  on 
Sabbath. 

24.  onvia,  sing,     -nna,  "  Young  man,"  by  which  term  the  Jews  usu- 
ally understand  the  alumni  of  their  Talmudical  schools. 

25.  Levi   b.   Gershom  (1286-1344)  is  generally  regarded  as   the 
greatest  successor  of  Maimonides.     Besides  his  rationalistic  commen- 
taries on  the  Bible,  he  wrote  various  treatises  on  metaphysics,  mathe- 
matics, astronomy,  medicine,  etc. 

26.  oSip  nj>na. 

IV.   NACHMANIDES 

i.  In  Steinschneider's  Catalogue  of  the  Bodleian  Library,  under  the 
name  of  Moses  Nachmanides,  pp.  1947-1965,  all  the  works  which  are 
ascribed  to  this  author  are  put  together,  and  also  discussed  as  to  their 
authenticity.  There  are  only  to  be  added  the  new  edition  of  the 
Derasha  by  Jellinek  (Vienna,  1872),  in  which  the  variants  from 
Schorr's  MS.  (n*?nn,  viii.  162)  are  already  incorporated;  a  new  edi- 


348  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

tion  of  the  m^i,  and  the  commentary  to  Is.  lii.-liii.  by  Steinschneider 
(Berlin,  1860)  ;  a  Sermon  for  the  New  Year,  ed.  by  H.  Berliner  (Liba- 
non,  v.  564);  and  another  Sermon  at  a  wedding  (?),  ed.  by  Schorr 
(Hechaluz,  xii.  3).  For  the  literature  on  Nachmanides,  besides  the 
references  given  by  Steinschneider,  in  his  Catalogue,  and  the  Addenda, 
p.  cxviii.  (cf.  also  the  pedigree  in  the  Catalogue  2305),  see  also  Graetz, 
Geschichte,  vii.,  pp.  112-143,  and  p.  147  seq. ;  Michael,  o^nn  -MN, 
No.  1125,  and  Weiss,  vanm  in  in,  v.  4  seq, ;  Perles'  Monatsschrift, 
1860,  p.  175;  Zomber,  ibid.  421;  and  Z.  Frankel,  ibid.  1868,  p.  449, 
and  The  Jewish  Quarterly  Review,  iv.  245  seq.  For  Nachmanides' 
disputation  we  have  to  add  M .  Loeb  in  the  Revue  des  Etudes  Juives, 
xv.  i  seq.,  and  xviii.  52  (about  Abner),  and  Dr.  Neubauer's  Essay  on 
Jewish  Controversy  in  the  Expositor,  vol.  vii.  (third  series),  p.  98  seq., 
with  the  references ^given  there.  See  also  his  article  on  the  Bahir  and 
the  Zohar  in  The  Jewish  Quarterly  Review,  iv.  357.  With  regard  to 
Nachmanides'  mystical  system  see  the  references  to  S.  Sachs  (whose 
remarks  are  most  suggestive),  Krochmal,  and  Jellinek  in  Steinschnei- 
der, col.  1949  and  1964,  Perles'  Monatsschrift,  1858,  p.  83  seq.,  and 
Steinschneider  in  the  Heb.  Bibliographie,  i.  34.  See  also  Professor 
Kaufmann's  Die  Geschichte  der  Attributenlehre,  and  the  references 
given  in  the  index  under  this  name.  The  Novella  by  his  son  R. 
Nachman,  alluded  to  in  the  text,  are  in  the  University  Library,  Cam- 
bridge (Add.  1187,  2).  The  nSwn  pp  is  extant  in  the  British  Museum, 
MS.  Add.  26,894,  and  the  passage  quoted  by  De  Rossi  is  to  be  found 
on  p.  163^,  but  a  few  words  are  erased  by  the  censor.  As  to  the  poem 
given  at  the  end  of  this  paper,  see  Zunz,  Synagogale  Poesie,  p.  478  ; 
Landshut,  Amude  ha-Abodah  s.v.,  the  references  in  Sachs'  Religiose 
Poesie  der  Juden,  and  Luzzatto  in  the  Ozar  Nechmad,  ii.  27.  Compare 
also  Professor  Cheyne's  The  Origin  of  the  Psalter,  p.  421. 

2.  New  Year's  Day,  on  the  first  of  Tishri.     It  is  in  autumn. 

3.  A  famous  Rabbi  of  the  fifteenth  century,  known  by  his  various 
casuistical  and  philosophical  works. 

4.  Chiefly  known  through  his  controversial  writings  against   the 
adherents  of  the  pseudo-Messiah  Shabbethai  Tsebi.     He  was  for  some 
time  the  Rabbi  of  the  Portuguese  congregation  in  London. 

5.  The  main  objections  of  the  opponents  of  Maimonides  were  di- 
rected against  his  rationalistic  notions  of  Revelation,  and  his  allegoris- 


NOTES 


349 


ing  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  which  amounted  in  some  places  to 
a  denial  of  miracles.  He  was  also  suspected  of  having  denied  bodily 
resurrection.  A  history  of  Jewish  rationalism  is  still  a  desideratum. 
I  am  certain  that  it  would  prove  at  least  as  interesting  as  Renter's 
Geschichte  der  religi'dsen  Aufklarung  im  Mittelalter  (Berlin,  1845-60). 

6.  ni^D  ij-ai. 

7.  nnjtf,  "  Homilies."     See  above,  p.  64  and  note. 

8.  nSwjn  pp,  "  The  end  of  the  Redemption,"  that  is  the  time  when 
the  advent  of  the  Messiah  is  to  be  expected. 

9.  This  patriarch  is  famous  in  Jewish  legend  for  his  hospitality. 
See  Beer's  Leben  Abrahajns,  pp.  37  and  56. 

10.  This  is  the  quorum  necessary  to  form  a  congregation  (mj?)  for 
the  purpose  of  holding  divine  service. 

11.  By  Zobah,  or  Aram  Zobah,  the  Jews  of  the  Middle  Ages  usually 
understood  Aleppo.     See  Benjamin  of  Tudela's  Itinerary,  i.  88,  ii.  124 
(London  and  Berlin,  1840-41). 

12.  See  below,  p.  141,  where  a  full  translation  of  the  letter  is  given. 

13.  nV?ru  rnaSn,  a  compendium  of  the  Law,  dating  from  the  ninth 
century,  by  R.  Simon  Caro. 

14.  R.  Simlai  flourished  in  Palestine  in  the  third  century.     He  is 
best  known  as  an  Agadic  teacher  and  a  great  controversialist.    Accord- 
ing to  him,  613  commandments  were  given  to  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai, 
of  which  365  are  prohibitive  laws,  whilst  the  remaining  248  are  positive 
injunctions. 

15.  SIDJD  IJHP,  "  Treatise  on  Reward  (and  Punishment)." 

1 6.  Nan  thy. 

17.  Ps.  cix.  4;  nWi  >JNI. 

1 8.  niSrsN. 

19.  run  e>flj. 

20.  njrv,  "  Knowledge,"  "  Foreknowledge,"  "  Omniscience." 

21.  man,  nj>:3B>. 

22.  nSwD.     See  Exod.  xix.  5 

23.  otpn. 

24.  a-v?»  pnp. 

25.  According  to  a  Jewish  tradition  (the  date  of  which  is  uncertain) 
the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  the  Son  of  David,  will  be  preceded  by  that 
of  the  Messiah,  the  Son  of  Joseph.     The  latter  will  perish  in  the  battle 


350  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

against  Gog  and  Magog  (the  Antichrist  of  Jewish  literature),  but  will 
soon  be  brought  back  to  life  on  the  appearance  of  the  former.  Cf.  G. 
H.  Dalman's  Der  leidende  und  der  sterbende  Messias  der  Synagoge 
(Berlin,  1881). 

26.  rutpx-a,  "In  the  beginning,"  Gen.  i.  i. 

27.  pun;  Job  xxvii.  12. 

28.  Chagigah  \^b.     The  activity  of  these  four  Rabbis  falls  Qhiefly 
in  the  second  century.     R.  Akiba  died  as  a  martyr  in  the  Hadrianic 
persecution  (about  130).     Elisha  b.  Abuyah,  the  apostate,  was  usually 
called  -\nx,  Acher,  "  the  other  one." 

29.  The  former  lived  in  the  twelfth,  the  latter  in  the  sixteenth, 
century.     They  are  both  known  for  their  hostility  to  philosophy. 

30.  Bachya  wrote  in  the  eleventh  century  a  famous  book  called 
nraaSn  nmn,  The  Duties  of  the  Heart.     For  the  others  see  above,  p.  13 
and  note,  p.  49  and  note,  p.  102  and  note,  p.  97  and  note,  p.  71  and 
note.    They  all  belong  to  the  rationalistic  school. 

31.  A  younger  contemporary  of  Maimonides,  who  translated  the 
Guide  from  Arabic  into  Hebrew. 

32.  SpB'on  nsD.     See  above,  p.  18.     R.  Moses  Cordovora,  the  author 
of  the  DTIS,  lived  in  Safed  in  the  sixteenth  century.     For  R.  Isaac 
Loria,  the  author  of  the  o^nn  v>?  see  above,  note  5  to  Elijah  Wilna. 

33.  nnio  \v\&. 

34.  -vnan  isD,  a  forgery  by  a  Proven9al  Jew  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, who  attributed  it  to  a  Rabbi  of  the  first  century. 

35.  This  hymn  is  now  incorporated  in  her  excellent  little  book, 
Songs  of  Zion,  pp.  13-15. 

36.  aim,  a  gold  piece.     The  country  and  the  date  of  the  writer  not 
being  certain,  it  is  impossible  to  determine  the  value  of  this  coin. 

37.  The  lawfulness  of  eating  this  fish  (=  sturgeon?)  was  contested 
for  many  centuries,  and  the  controversy  still  continues. 

38.  owe,  a  smaller  coin  than  the  Zehub. 

39.  J?DB>,  "Hear,"  the  verses   from   Deut.  vi.  4-9,  xi.    13-21,  and 
Num.  xv.  37-41,  recited  twice  a  day  by  the  Jews. 


NOTES  351 

V.    A  JEWISH    BOSWELL 

1.  Sabbath,  30^. 

2.  jruc,  pi.  D'unjn  (Minhagini),  applied  usually  to  those  ritual  cus- 
toms and  ceremonies  for  which  there  is  no  distinct  authority  in  the 
Scriptures  or  even  in  the  Talmud. 

VI.    THE   DOGMAS   OF  JUDAISM 

1.  Jerusalem,  in  Mendelssohn's  Sammtliche  Werke  (Vienna,  1838), 
especially  from  p.   264  onwards,  and  a  letter  by  him  published   in 
Frankel-Graetz's  Monatsschrift,    1859,   p.  173.      For    Mendelssohn's 
position,  see   Graetz's   Geschichte,   xi.   86  seq.,   especially   p.  88   and 
note  i  ;    Kayserling,  Leben  und  Werke  of  M.,  2d  ed.,  p.  394;    Stein- 
heim,  Moses  Mendelssohn  (Hamburg,   1840),  p.  30  seq. ;    Holdheim, 
Moses  Mendelssohn  (Berlin,  1859),  P-  l8  sgS- »    Leopold  Low's  pam- 
phlet, Judische  Dogmen  (Pesth,  1871). 

2.  See  the  Commentaries  on  Maimonides'  rnxsn  -IBD,  especially  R. 
Simeon  Duran's  jppnn  -\m? ;  cf.  also  ancient  and  modern  commentaries 
on  Exod.  xx.  2. 

3.  See  Siphra  (ed.  Weiss),  pp.  86£,  93^. 

4.  Baba  Bathra,  14^;  cf.  Furst's  Kanon,  p.  15. 

5.  See  Sanhedrin,  38^,  and  Pseudo-Jonathan  to  Gen.  iv.  8. 

6.  Mechilta,  33^. 

7.  onip'CK,  Lat.  Epicurus. 

8.  See  Mishnah,  Sanhedrin,  x.  e,  §  i,  and  Talmud,  ibid,  qoa  and  b, 
and  Rabbinowicz's  Variae  Lectiones,  ix.  p.  247  notes.      Besides  the 
ordinary  commentaries  on  the  Talmud,  account  must  also  be  taken  of 
the  remarks  of  Crescas,  Duran,  Albo,  and  Abarbanel  on  the  subject. 
Cf.  also  Kampf  in  the  Monatsschrift  (1863),  p.  14^  seq. ;  Oppenheim, 
ibid.  (1864),  p.  144;    Friedmann  in  the  Beth  Talmud,  i.  p.  210  seq. 
See  also  Tahnudical  Dictionaries,  s.v.  Drnp^oN.      The  explanation  I 
have  adopted  agrees  partly  with  Friedmann's  and  partly  with  Oppen- 
heim's  views. 

9.   Sayings  of  the  Fathers,  iii.  §  9,  and  iv.  §  22. 
10.    See  in^N  mi*  (Jovslow,  1835),  p.  48.     In  my  exposition  of  the 
dogmas  of  the  Caraites  I  have  mainly  followed  the  late  Dr.  Frankl's 


352  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

article  "Karaiten"  in  Ersch  u.  Gruber's  Encyclopddie  (sec.  ii. 
vol.  xxxvi.  pp.  1 2- 1 8).  See  also  his  Ein  mutazilitischer  Kalam 
and  his  Beitrdge  zur  Literaturgeschichte  der  Kar'der  (Berlin,  1887) 
on  Bashazi.  Cf.  also  Jost's  Geschichte,  ii.  c.  13. 

11.  Kairowan  was  one  of  the  greatest  centres  of  Jewish  learning  in 
North  Africa  during  that  period. 

12.  See,  however,  Professor  D.   Kaufmann's  note  in  the  Jewish 
Quarterly  Review,  i.  p.  441 .   "From  this  it  would  seem  that  the  creed  of 
R.  Judah  Hallevi  may  be  formulated  in  the  following  articles:  —  The 
conviction  of  the  existence  of  God,  of  His  eternity,  of  His  guidance  of 
our  fathers,  of  the  Divine  Origin  of  the  Law,  and  of  the  proof  of  all 
this,  the  pledge  or  token  of  its  truth,  the  exodus  from  Egypt. 

13.  HD-\    rwoN,   Emunah  Ramah,   pp.   44  and  69;     cf.    Gulmann, 
Monatsschrift,  1878,  p.  304. 

14.  For  the  various  translations  of  the  Thirteen  Articles  which  were 
originally  composed  in  Arabic,  see  Steinschneider,  Cat.  Bodl.  col.  1887. 
Cf.  Rosin,  Ethik  des  Maimonides,  p.  30 ;  Weiss,  Beth  Talmud,  i.  p.  330, 
and  Ben  Chananjah,  1863,  p.  942,  and  1864,  pp.  648  and  697,  and 
Landshut,  miayn  mcj?,  p.  231. 

15.  niNjp  nruD.     See  pp.  1-16. 

16.  See  Hammaskir,  viii.  pp.  63  and  103. 

17.  See  Steinschneider,  Cat.  Munchen,  No.  210. 

1 8.  See  the  Collection  o^ean  na^,  by  Ashkenazi,  pp.  56^  seq. 

19.  See  Albo,  c.  iii.     Probably  identical  with  the  author  mentioned 
by  Duran,  13^. 

20.  prwj  -IDD,  "  Sepher  Nizzachon." 

21.  See  'n  -IIN  (ed.  Johannisburg),  preface,  and  pp.  200,  44^,  59^, 
and  elsewhere.     The  style  of  this  author  is  very  obscure.     Cf.  Joel's 
pamphlet  on  this  author  (Breslau,  1874). 

22.  See  the  first  pages  of  the  niaw  pD  (Leghorn,  1758),  and  his 
DstPD  aniN,  pp.  i$seq. 

23.  onpp,  Ikkarim,  "  Fundamentals." 

24.  See  Ikkarim,  i.  c.  23,  and  Maimonides'  Commentary  on  the 
Mishnah  (end  of  tractate  Maccoth).     On  Albo  compare  Schlesinger's 
Introduction  and  notes  to  the  Ikkarim,  Joel's  pamphlet,  p.  82  ;  Paulus, 
Monatsschrift,  1874,  p.  463,  and  Brail's  Jahrb.  iv.  p.  52. 

25.  I  know  his  work  from  a  MS.  in  the  British  Museum,  Orient.  39. 


NOTES 


353 


26.  njiDN  -pi,  Derech  Emunah.    Cf.  Steinschneider,  Monatsschrift, 
1883,  p.  79  j^. 

27.  See  prw>  n-ppy,  gate  55. 

28.  See  his  HJIDNH  IID>  and  nnnxn  IDNE. 

29.  njox  e>xi. 

30.  See  mn  nrna,  ed.  Reggio,  p.  28. 

31.  See  now  rwpD  (Venice,  1707),  160  and  230.     His  language  is 
very  vague. 

32.  See  the  Collection  by  Ashkenazi  (as  above,  note  18),  p.  29^. 

33.  See  his  pan  o^ntpa,  p.  331. 

34.  See  Weiss's  admirable  monograph  on  Maimonides,  published 
in  the  Beth  Talmud,  i. 


VII.    THE   HISTORY   OF  JEWISH   TRADITION 

1.  The  Hebrew  title  of  the  work  is  vanm  "in  in. 

2.  That  is,  vows  of  an  ascetic  nature  (not  vows  or  oaths  enforced 
by  a  court  of  justice),  which  the  tribunal  could  annul  when  there  was 
sufficient  reason  for  it. 

3.  The  ten  Rabbis  who  are  named  as  the  bearers  of  tradition  during 
the  period  between  170  and  30  B.C.     The  "pair"  in  each  case  is  sup- 
posed to  have  consisted  of  the  president  and  the  vice-president  of  the 
Sanhedrin  for  the  time  being.     See,  however,  Kuenen,  Gesammelte 
Schriften,  p.  49  seq. 

4.  DiSnj  D^jam. 

5.  TDD  rupD1?  rnaSn.     They  amount,  in  the  whole  of  Rabbinic  litera- 
ture, to  about  forty,  of  which  more  than  ten  concern  the  preparation  of 
the  phylacteries,  whilst  others  relate  to  the  libations  of  water  at  the 
Feast  of  Tabernacles  and  similar  subjects. 

6.  This  is  the  time  when  the  school  of  R.  Johanan  b.  Zaccai  began 
its  activity.     Others  place  the  Tannaitic  age  in  Hillel's  time  (30  B.C.). 

7.  Sip  na. 

8.  |n  rna,  lit.  "Court  of  Justice,"  as  above,  note  16  to  Elijah  Wilna, 
but  it  means  also  a  sort  of  permanent  Synod,  in  which  of  course  justice 
was  also  administered  as  a  part  of  religion. 

9.  nmp,  "Evidences  given  by  Witnesses."    The  tractate  consists 


354  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

mostly  of  a  number  of  laws  attested  by  various  Rabbis  as  having  come 
down  to  them  as  old  traditions. 

10.  The  family  of  Hillel,  which  was  supposed  to  be  descended  from 
the  house  of  David,  supplied  the  Jews  with  patriarchs  for  many  gen- 
erations.     Gamaliel  II.   flourished  about   120  A.C.,  whilst   Simon  b. 
Gamaliel's  activity  as  Patriarch  falls  about  160  A.C. 

11.  rnnDE>,  Semachoth.     It  is  a  euphemistic  title,  the  tractate  dealing 
with  the  laws  relating  to  funeral  ceremonies  and  mourning. 

12.  •'frn-ao,   " Elucidators "   or   "Explainers."      The   heads    of  the 
schools    in    Babylon   during    the   fifth   and   sixth   centuries   were   so 
designated. 

13.  The  Rabbinic  Jews  of  the  dispersion  add  one  day  to  each 
festival,  and  thus  celebrate   the   Passover  eight   days,  the    Feast  of 
Weeks   two   days,   etc.      The   custom   arose   out   of  the   uncertainty 
about  the  first  day  of  the  month,  the  prerogative  of  fixing  the  New 
Moon  resting  with  the  great  Beth  Din  in  Palestine,  which  had  not 
always  the  means  of  communicating  in  time  the  evidence  given  before 
them  that  the  New  Moon  had  been  seen  by  qualified  witnesses.     The 
prerogative  was  abolished  in  the  fourth  century,  and  the  calendar  fixed 
for  all  future  time,  but  the  additional  day  is  still  kept  by  the  Rabbinic 
Jews  as  the  "  Custom  of  their  Fathers." 

14.  nnip  "nytp,  niSoTi,  "Chambers  (of  Heaven)"  and  the  "Measure 
of  the  Stature,"  mystical  works  in  which  occasionally  gross  anthropo- 
morphisms are  to  be  found.     Their  authorship  is  unknown. 

III.    THE   DOCTRINE   OF   DIVINE   RETRIBUTION   IN 
RABBINICAL  LITERATURE 

1.  Sabbath,  550. 

2.  Sayings  of  the  Fathers  (ed.  C.  Taylor),  v.  12-15.      See  also 
Sabbath,  y.seq.,  and  Mechilta  (ed.  Friedman),  95$.     Arachin,  i6a. 

3.  See  Mechilta,  2$a,  y.b.     Gen.  Kabbah,  ch.  48,  and  Tossephta 
Sot  ah,  iv.  7,  and  parallels. 

4.  Taanith,  2ia. 

5.  Sayings  of  the  Fathers,  iv.  5. 

6.  Baba  Bathra,  <$b. 

7.  Yoma,  394. 


NOTES 


355 


8.  Berachoth,  330. 

9.  Sabbath,  \^b. 

10.  Berachoth,  7 a. 

11.  See  Mechilta,  68£,  and  parallels.     Siphra,  1126.    Pessikta  of  R. 
Kahana,  167^.     Cp.  Sanhedrin,  440. 

12.  Aboth  de  R.  Nathan,  40^,  59^,  and  62^. 

13.  Baba  Bathra,  loa. 

14.  Eccles.  Rabbah,  ix.  7. 

15.  50. 

16.  70. 

17.  See  Mechilta,  95^,  and  parallels. 

1 8.  See  Kiddushin,  40^.     Mechilta,  636.     Lev.  Rabbah,  iv. 

19.  See  Sabbath,  540. 

20.  Exodus  Rabbah,  c.  35,  and  parallels. 

21.  See  Negaim,  ii.  i. 

22.  /&*?</.  Rabbah,  c.  46. 

23.  Taanith,  na. 

24.  See  Berachoth,  $a. 

25.  Tanchuma,  i«n  ^,  §  2.     Cp.  Mechilta,  72^. 

26.  Siphre,  73^,  and  parallels. 

27.  Taanith,  $>a. 

28.  Arachin,  \6b. 

29.  Sayings  of  the  Fathers,  iv.  15. 

30.  See  Chagigah,  50. 

31.  Sabbath,  550. 

32.  Menachoth,  iqb. 

33.  Taanith,  2$a. 

34.  ^«.  Rabbah,  xxvii. ;  Pessikta,  136^;  Sanhedrin,  vi.  5;   5^fl- 
^^M,  70. 

35.  Sayings  of  the  Fathers,  i.  3,  p.  27,  ed.  Taylor.     See  also  note  8. 

36.  Abodah  Zarah,  190;  Siphre,  79^. 

37.  Berachoth,  58^. 

38.  See  £*&£.  /?.,  30,  and  parallels. 

39.  See  HDDH  rpa>N-\,  i.  9. 

40.  See  D>OIX  D^HDI,  33^. 

41.  See  Sabbath,  55^,  and  Siphra,  2ja. 


356  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 


IX.    THE   LAW   AND   RECENT   CRITICISM 

1 .  Judaism  and  Christianity,  a  Sketch  of  the  Progress  of  Thought 
from  Old  Testament  to  New  Testament,  by  C.  H.  Toy,  Professor  in 
Harvard  University.     London,  1890. 

2.  See  Pessikta  of  R.  Kahana,   6i£,   and   parallels,   and   Erubin, 

13*. 

3.  Tal.  Jer.,  Sabbath,  $b. 

4.  jnooo,  the  name  of  an  angel,  already  found  in  the  Talmud,  but 
playing  a  more  important  part  in  the  Book  of  Chambers,  where  he  is 
identified  with  Enoch.     The  etymology  of  the  word  is  doubtful,  some 
authors  considering  it  to  be  of  Persian  origin  {Mithra)  ;   others  again 
deriving  it  from  the  Greek  /ACTOL  rvpavvov,  or  /x,era  Qpovov. 

5.  nvvcD. 

6.  *no<e,  "The  Word,"  sometimes  substituted  for  God.      See  J. 
Levy's  Chalddisches  Worterbuch,  s.v. 

7.  "IPS,  JlDlp  D1X. 

8.  Mechilta,  1040. 

9.  See  Tal.  Jer.,  Yoma,  45^.      Cf.  Maimonides,  Mishneh  Torah, 
/'n  a"o  natr  nisSn. 

10.  Tosephta  Berachoth,  iii.  7. 

11.  Sabbath,  lob.     The  name  of  the  Rabbi  is  not  given,  but  the 
fact  that  R.  Simeon  b.  Gamaliel  (160  A.c.)  already  refers  to  this  inter- 
pretation makes  it  clear  that  its  anonymous  author  must  have  lived  at 
least  a  generation  before. 

12.  B»np  Sa>  DID. 

13.  See  Midrash  to  the  Psalms  xcii.  and  Deut.  Kabbah  iii.     The 
Rabbis  perceived  in  the  words  jjy  rotpS  ntnpi  (Isa.  Iviii.  13),  a  command 
to  make  the  Sabbath  a  day  of  pleasure,  whilst  the  word  -|xon  was  under- 
stood by  them  to  mean  "  needs,"  "  wants,"  or  "  business  "  (not  "  pleas- 
ure ") .     Cf.  Sabbath,  1 130  and  b. 

14.  See  Gen.  Rabbah,  xi.  (and  parallels),  and  Sabbath,  1190. 

15.  See  Maaseh  Torah  (ed.  Schonblum)  and  Deut.  Rabbah,  i. 

16.  Sabbath,  2$b  and  1190. 

17.  Betsah,  i6a.     Cf.  Baer's  notes  in  his  Prayer-Book,  p.  203  seq. 

18.  See  Sabbath,  119^,  and  Gen.  Rabbah,  xi. 


NOTES  357 

19.  See  Sabbath,  iob,  and  Gen.  Kabbah,  ibid. 

20.  pSflfi. 

2 1 .  Nazir,  23^. 


X.    THE   HEBREW   COLLECTION   OF   THE   BRITISH 
MUSEUM 

1.  pnr  -\IN  by  R.  Isaac  b.  Moses  of  Vienna  (thirteenth  century), 
mostly  on  legal  subjects. 

2.  poor,  Yuchasin. 

3.  SSjo,  Miklal. 

4.  D^jnr,  IJNC,  the  former  treating  of  the  agricultural  laws  of  the 
Bible,  the  latter  of  those  relating  to  the  Sabbath,  Passover,  and  other 
festivals. 

5.  -nrnr,  "Cycle,"  containing  the  liturgy  for  the  festivals. 

6.  Since  then  edited  by  the  Mekize  Nirdamim. 

7.  Eve  of  the  last  day  of  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles. 


XI.    TITLES   OF  JEWISH   BOOKS 

1.  onto  new.    o"z>. 

2.  Nmna. 

3-  HNfl. 

4.  oipSs  Yalkut. 

5.  rwn. 

6.  3  ID 

7.  iyD 

8.  iint 
9. 

10.  -jScn  pop,  n^D1?  njts>D,  njB'D  TJD,  nim  nja»D, 

n.  SNI^  D^n. 

12.  ^Nnty^  vh  x>u  nn. 

13.  nnan  rnmS  ytr.     nW. 


358  STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 

XII.    THE   CHILD   IN  JEWISH   LITERATURE 

1.  The  main  authorities  on  the  subjects  of  this  essay  are  Die 
Lebensalter,  by  Dr.  Leopold  Low ;    The  Jewish  Rite  of  Circumcision, 
by  Dr.  Asher;   an  article  by  Dr.  Perles  in  the  Graetz  Jubelschrift, 
p.  23  seq. ;  Merkwurdigkeiten  der  Juden,  by  Schudt ;  the  Donjon  mpo 
and  other  works  on  ritual  customs  ;  Glidemann's  Geschichte  des  Erzie- 
hungswesens  und  der  Cultur  der  Juden ;  and  Das  Kind  in  Brauch 
und  Sitte  der  Volker,  by  Dr.  Ploss. 

2.  TICK,  PEN. 

3.  n^S,  Is.  xxxiv.  14. 

4.  See  above,  note  39  to  Nachmanides. 

5.  nS'D  nna,   "Covenant  of  Circumcision."      This   is   the  usual 
expression  in  Hebrew  literature  for  the  rite  of  circumcision. 

6.  -OT  mS«». 

7.  niu,  *?mD. 

8.  pn  fins. 

9.  rrnnn  npn,  on  educational  matters. 

10.  rnino,  "  business,"  or  "  wares." 

11.  I  am  indebted  for  the  English  adaptation  to  Mrs.  Henry  Lucas. 

12.  Bereshith  Kabbah,  chapter  xx.     For  another  reading  see  n^so 
Horn  (ed.  Cracow),  p.  374. 

13.  Abodah  Zarah,  -$b. 

14.  This  is  the  way  in  which  Deut.  xxxi.  10-12  was  explained. 

15.  o-nfliD,  "Scribes";   treating  of  the  regulations  concerning  the 
writing  of  the  Law,  but  containing  also  much  liturgical  matter. 

16.  nn-iflD,  by  which  name  the  Jews  of  the  Spanish  rite  are  desig- 
nated. 

17.  jB"  prrej,  a  controversial  work  published  by  Wagenseil.      See 
above,  p.  203,  for  another  victory. 

18.  pcS-uD,  who  is  probably  known  to  the   English  reader  from 
Longfellow's  poem. 

19.  nun  12. 

20.  jsn-vp,  "  Sanctification  "  —  "  benediction  "  —  on  the  eve  of  Sab- 
bath, which  is  pronounced  over  a  cup  of  wine. 

21.  mm  nnD£>,  on  the  23rd  of  Tishri,  when  the  last  portion  from  the 
Pentateuch  is  read. 


NOTES 


359 


22.  S^n,  "Praise,"  i.e.  Ps.  cxiii.-cxviii. 

23.  B»np,  the  name  of  a  prayer  commencing  anprpi  S-urp,  "  Magnified 
and  sanctified  be,"  etc. 

24.  Prayer  beginning  i:nr,  "  Bless  ye,"  etc. 

25.  -\DNP  ina,  beginning  of  a  prayer,  "  Blessed  be  He,"  etc. 

26.  See   Schiirer's  Die  Gemeindeverfassnng  der  Juden   in  Rom, 
p.  24.  Cf.  Hebrdische  Bibliographic,  xix.  p.  79. 

XIII.    WOMAN   IN   TEMPLE   AND   SYNAGOGUE 


i  . 

2.    nunn. 

XIV.    THE   EARLIEST  JEWISH   COMMUNITY   IN 
EUROPE 

1.  pa**  lapn. 

2.  -ncjp.     In  olden  times  the  weekly  lesson  from,  the  Law  used  to 
be  read  by  seven  members  of  the  congregation  who  were  "  called  up  " 
for  this  purpose  ;  the  Priest  and  the  Levite  took  precedence  of  laymen 
for  this  honour.     At  the  present  day,  the  members  of  the  congregation 
are  still  called  up,  but  the  actual  reading  is  performed  by  an  official. 


INDEX 


This  Index  contains  the  most  important  names  of  persons,  titles  of  books, 
technical  terms  and  Hebrew  words  occurring  in  the  text.  In  the  notes  to 
the  text,  commencing  with  p.  415,  the  Hebrew  words  are  for  the  most  part 
given  also  in  Hebrew  characters. 


ABARBANEL,  ISAAC,  173,  174 

Abaye,  311 

Ab  Beth  Din,  84,  347 

Abba  Mari  b.  Moses,  165,  179 

Abba  Tachnah,  the  Chassid,  221 

Abraham,  Baalshem's  father-in-law,  7 

Abraham,  son  of  Elijah  Wilna,  88 

Abraham  of  Bedres,  262 

Abraham  Abulaphia,  262 

Abraham  Ibn  Daud,  162 

Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  50,  52,  64,  71,  210, 

3*4,  344 
Abraham  b.  Shem  —  Tob  Bibago,  172, 

173 

Abtalyon,  186 
Abuha,  311 
Acha,  310 
Ac/ier,  292,  350 
Adam,  Primal,  239,  356 
Agadah,    pi.    Agadoth,    64,    105,    183, 

'97>  345 
Agadic,  no,  156,  157,  193,  262,  279, 

345 

Ages  of  Man,  295 
Akabyah  b.  Mahalaleel,  305 
Akiba,  70,  84,  130,  188,  190,  194,  220, 

227,  228,  234,  350 
Almemor,  302 
Ammi,  214,  217,  226,  231 
Amora,  pi.  Amoraim,  17,  84,  195,  343 
Amram  Gaon,  293 


Anna  of  Kaidon,  wife  of  Elijah  Wilna, 

82 

Anselm,  St.,  of  Canterbury,  79 
Antigonos  of  Socho,  229 
Anti-Maimonists,  133 
Aristotle,  79,  167 

Aryeh  Leb,  son  of  Elijah  Wilna,  88 
Ascension  of  Elijah,  75,  346 
Asher  b.  Jechiel,  210 
Assideans,  64,  342 
Ayil  Meshulash,  8 1 

Azariah  de  Rossi,  66,  71,  105,  333,  345 
Aziluth,  117,  349 
Azulai,  277 

BAALSHEM,    ISRAEL,    3-12,  14-35, 

73,  342 

Bachrach,  Ch.  J.,  325 
Bachur,  pi.  Bachurim,  95,  97,  347 
Bachya,  131,  350 
Baraitha,  271,  357 
Baruch  Sheamar,  311,  359 
Bashazi,  161 
Bath-Kol,  190,  353 
Beer  of  Mizriez,  n,  37 
Beer,  Peter,  66 
Ben  Azzai,  130,  216,  319 
Benjamin  of  Tudela,  329 
Ben-Jacob,  259 
Ben  Sira,  297 
Ben  Zoma,  130 


362 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 


Bereshith,  127,  350 

Berith  Milah,  288,  292,  293,  358 

Berliner,  A.,  327 

Bernays,  Isaak,  337 

Beth  Din,  191-193*  354 

Beth   Hammidrash,    7,    1 6,   84,     I39> 

342 

Beth  Talmud,  210 
Biccurim,  58,  344 
Bloch,  Samson,  51 
Bodek,  A.,  51 

Book  of  Brightness  (see  Zohar) 
Book  of  the  Pious,  295,  322 
Book  of  Victory,  167,  352 
Book  of  Weight,  133,  35° 
Boswell,  142,  197 
Buckle,  96 
Burbot,  138,  350 
Buzagli,  the  Cabbalist,  310 

3,     128,     129, 


Creeds  and  Opinions,  by  Saadiah  Gaon, 

162,  344 

Crown,  239,  356 
Cusari,  162,  343 

DATE  OF  THE  REDEMPTION,  105, 

349 

David  Rocca  Martino,  230 
David  Messer  Leon,  174 
David  b.  Samuel  d'Estella,  165,  166 
David  b.  Yom-Tob  Bilia,  166 
Defence  of  Adam,  230 
Delmedigo,  71,  131,  I75>  34^ 
Disputation,  by  Nachmanides,  103 
Dukes,  L.,  260 


CABBALAH,   Cabbalists, 

133,  210,  283,  315 
Cabod,  120,  121 
Caraites,  48,   160,  161,  207,  208,  344, 

35 i 
Casaubon,  Isaac,  259 

Chagigah,  77,  346 

Chakhamim,  57,  344 

Chambers,  the,  208,  355 

Chanina  b.  Dossa,  217 

Chanukah,  138 

Chapters  of  R.  Eliezer  the   Great,  68, 

69,  3l6»  346 

Chasdai  Ibn  Crescas,  167-173,  I»0 
Chassidim,  Chassid,    Chassidic,  Chas- 
sidism,   1-4,   n,  12,  14-16.  2I»  22, 
25-27,   3°,   33,     35-4i»  43-45,  53, 
73,  90,  298,  341,  342 
Chayim  Vital,  99 
Chayim  Walosin,  85,  87,  94 
Chisda,  307 
Chukkim,  124,  349 
Code  of  the  Law,  by  Caro,  75,  92,  206, 

211,  257,  346 
Collectanea,  144 

Commentary   on    the    Pentateuch,   by 
Nachmanides,  107,  108,  123,  135 


EIGHTEEN    BENEDICTIONS,    83, 

347 

Eleazar,  229 
Eleazar  b.  Jacob,  225 
Eliezer,  father  of  Baalshem,  5 
Eliezer  b.  Hyrkanos,  189,  319 
Eliezer  b.  Samuel  Hallevi,  145 
Eliezer  b.  Simeon,  223 
Elijah  Levita,  268 

Elijah  Wilna,  57,  73~77>  81-92,  96,  97-. 
Elisha  b.  Abuyah,  33,  130,  292 
Emden,  Jacob,  10,  259,  342 
Epikurus,  157,  35 1 
Erech  Millin,  66,  345 
Erter,  Isaac,  51,  59,  288 
Essenes,  64,  185 

Examination  of  the  World,  97,  347 
Eybeschiitz,  J.,  10,  342 
Ezra,  or  Azriel,  the  mystic,  100 


FAITHFUL  CITY,  the,  75,  346 

Fichte,  51 

Finn,  75 

Ford  Jabbok,  333,  359 

Frankists,  10,  342 

Frankl,  Z.,  65,  97 

Fiirst,  J.,  66 

GAMALIEL  I.,  234 
Gamaliel  II.,  194,  212,  354 


INDEX 


363 


Gaon,  pi.  Gaonim,  73,  76-78,  97,  98, 
206,  208,  209,  289,  312,  346 

Garden  of  Mystical  Contemplation, 
129 

Gate  of  Reward,  115,  213,  349 

Geiger,  A.,  66 

Gemara,  78,  346 

Gershon,  brother-in-law  of  Baalshem, 

8,9 

Ghetto,  326,  331-333 
Gnostics,  64 

Goethe,  57,  73,  306,  328 
Gozer,  290,  358 
Graetz,  65,  97,  99,  183 
Great  Interpreters,  186,  353 
Green,  A.  L.,  255 
Guide   of  the  Perplexed,  49,  68,  97, 

102,  130,  131,  179,  342,  344 
Guide  of  the  Perplexed  of  the  Time, 

60,  67,  345 

HADASI,  JUDAH,  160,  161 

Hai  Gaon,  77,  208,  209,  272,  346 

Halachah,  pi.  Halachoth,  64,  66,  183, 

345 
Halachic,  57,92,  no,  157,  193,  207, 

344 

Halachoth  Gedoloth,  ill,  1 12,  349 
Hannaneel  of  Kairwan,  162 
Hegel,  51,  54,  64,  65 
Heine,  59,  124,  254 
High  Belief,  162,  352 
Hillel  the  Great,  185,  186,  188,  193, 

237 

Hillel,  R.,  177 
History  of  Jewish  Tradition,  65,  182, 

353 

Hithlahabuth,  32,  343 
Holle  Kreisch,  294,  295 
Huna,  221,  225 

ISAAC  ALFASI,  13,  100,  101,  in,  312, 

343 

Isaac  Aramah,  173 
Isaac  Loria,  76,  133,  350 
Isaac  b.  Ruben,  100 
Ishmael,  188,  190,  224 


Ishmael  b.  Elishah,  222,  299 

Israel  Baalshem  (see  Baalshem,  Israel) 

JACOB  OF  CORBEIL,  322 

Jacob  Dubna,  91 

Jacob   the    Levite,    or    Maharil,    143, 

144 

Jacob  Sasportas,  101,  102 
Jacob  Tam,  210 
Jannai,  226 

Jedaiah  of  Bedres,  97,  131 
Jerusalem,  by  Mendelssohn,  147,  351 
Johanan,  249,  287,  303,  318 
Johanan  b.  Zaccai,  48,  188,  344 
Jonah  Gerundi,  100,  101 
Jonah,  son  of  Nachmanides,  101 
Jose,  218,  219 
Joseph  Albashir,  160 
Joseph  Albo,  171,  172 
Joseph  Caro,   75,   92,   206,   211,  322, 

346 

Joseph  Jabez,  131,  173,  179,  350 
Joshua  b.    Hananiah,   194,    299,  304, 

308 

Jost,  M.,  66 
Judah  Alcharisi,  262 
Judah  Hallevi,   13,  34,  152,  162,  208, 

342,  352 

Judah  b.  Ilai,  246 
Judah  Messer  Leon,  333 
Judah  de  Modena,  298 
Judah  the  Patriarch,  63,  195,  343 
Judah  the  Pious,  306 
Judah  b.  Tema,  299 
Judah  b.  Yakar,  100 

KARAB,  124,  349 

Kilayim,  87,  347 

Kimchi,  D.,  145 

Korban,  124,  349 

Krochmal,  Nachman,  44,  46,  48-68, 

7J»  72 
Kuenen,  240 

LAW  OF  MAN,  113-115 
Laws  unto   Moses   on  Mount  Sinai, 
64,  345»  353 


364 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 


Lessing,  73 

Letteris,  M.,  56,  57 

Levi  b.  Gershom,  97,  101,  171,  347 

Light  of  God,  167,  352 

Lilac  of  Mysteries,  1 33,  350 

Lilith,  287,  288,  358 

Lipman  of  Miihlhausen,  167,  179 

Liva  of  Prague,  78 

Lowell,  R.,  116 

Low,  L.,  171,  285,  305 

Lucas,  Mrs.  Henry,  135,  358 

MACAULAY,  89 

Maggid,  19,  347 

Magnified,  310,  359 

Maimonides,  or  Moses  b.  Maimon, 
13,  48,  49,  68,  70,  78,  97,  100,  102, 
103,  in,  126,  130,  133,  140,  161- 
168,  170-181,  210,  211,  249,  274, 
280,  281,  312,  322,  342 

Maimonists,  Anti-Maimonists,  163- 
165,  173,  210 

Mar  Samuel,  84 

Mathia  b.  Chares,  339 

Measure  of  the  Stature,  208 

Mechilta,  58,  81,  193,  345 

Meheram  Schiff,  16,  343 

Meir,  130,  194,  226,  318 

Meir  b.  Nathan  of  Trinquintaines,  loo 

Meir  of  Rothenburg,  210 

Memra,  238,  356 

Men  of  the  Great  Synagogue,  64,  185 

Menachotk,  86,  347 

Mendelssohn,  Moses,  48,  58,  73,  147, 
151,  176,351 

Metatron,  238,  356 

Midrash,  pi.  Midrashim,  6l,  64,  71, 

8l,    193,    195,     222,    262,    272,    273, 

304,  345 
Milton,  114 

Minhag,  pi.  Minhagim,  143,  192,  351 
Minim,  64,  345 
Minor  Tractates,  81,  346 
Mishnah,  57,  64,  66,  76,  78,  82,  85, 

87,  91,  157,  190,  193,  195,  271,  343 
Mistress  of  the  Synagogue,  317 
Moses  Cordevora,  133,  350 


Moses  Ibn  Ezra,  262 

Moses  de  Leon,  18,  133,  258,  262 

Moses  of  Tachau,  131 

Mother  Zion,  321 

NACHMAN,  son  of  Nachmanides,  101 
Nachmanides,  or  Moses  b.  Nachman, 

99-141,  213 
Nahum  of  Gemzo,  215 
Nasi,  84,  347 
Nathan,  194 

Nephesh  Chayah,  117,  349 
Neubauer,  Dr.  A.,  263 
Night  of  Watching,  288 
Nissim  of  Gerona,  133 
Nissim  of  Marseilles,  267 

OLAM  HABBA,  115 

Old  Victory,  304,  358 
Oral  Law,  10 
Orchard,  the,  133,  350 
Ordinance  of  the  Law,  293,  358 

PABLO  CHRISTIANO,  103,  105,  106 

Pairs,  the,  185,  353 

Paradise  Lost,  114 

Pardes,  129 

Pashut,  138,  350 

Path  of  Belief,  172,  353 

Perles,  J.,  99,  123,  294 

Pharisees,  64,  185,  237,  241 

Philo,  52,  64,  154,  238 

Pilpul  Pilpulist,  13,  78,  343 

Plato,  78 

Pugio  Fidei,  107 

RABA,  311 

Rabbanan  Saburai,  206,  354 

Rabbah,  311 

Rabbenu,  13,  343 

Rabbenu  Mosheh,  103,  349 

Rabbinowicz,  R.  N.  N.,  261 

Raimund  Martini,  107 

Rapoport,  Solomon  Leb,  50,  53,  56,  66 

Reggio,  Isaac,  270 

Roots,  the,  171,  352 

Ruskin,  328 


INDEX 


365 


SAADIAH  GAON,  48,  162,  208,  272,  344 

Sacred  Letter,  113 

Saclducees,  64,  185,  237 

Salman  the  Good,  145 

Sambatyon,  95,  347 

Sancti/icafion-cup,  245,  356 

Sandalphon,  305 

Sandek,  290 

Sanhedrin,  the,  188,  190,  191 

Saul  Berlin,  176,  180 

Sayings   of  the  Fathers,  Aboth,    262, 

299 

Schelling,  51 
Schiller,  73 
Schlummerlied,  295 
Schorr,  O.,  193 
Schudt,  291,  298 
Seek  or  ah,  296,  358 
Seder  Nezikin,  58,  344 
Seder  Olam,  81,  92,  346 
Seder  Taharoth,  58,  345 
Segulah,  122,  349 
Sephardim,  301,  358 
Sepher,  13,  343 
Sephiroth,  Ten,  238,  356 
Sermon  in  the  Presence  of  the  King, 

by  Nachmanides,  165 
Shabbethai  Tsebi,  134,  239,  348 
Shalom  Zachar,  289,  358 
Shammai,  185,  188,  237 
Shechinah,  120,  1 21,  228-230,  349 
Shema,  reading  of  the,  141,  288,  350 
Shemaiah,  186 
Shemariah  of  Crete,  166 
Sherira  Gaon,  263 
Shiphluth,  30,  343 
Simchah,  31,  343 
Simeon  Duran,  101,  170,  171,  348 
Simeon  b.  Eleazar,  289 
Simeon  b.  Gamaliel,  222 
Simeon    b.    Gamaliel    II.,    193,    194, 

354 

Simeon  b.  Yochai,  18,  223 
Simlai,  1 1 2,  349 

Siphra,  58,  81,  91,  193,  262,  345 
Siphre,  58,  81,  91,  193,  262,  345 
Solomon  b.  Adereth,  70,  267 


Solomon  b.  Gabirol,  210 

Solomon  of  St.  Goar,  143-145 

Solomon  b.  Isaac,  Rashi,  13,  210,  343 

Solomon  b.  Isaac  b.  Zadok,  137 

Solomon  Ladier,  43,  341 

Solomon  Portaleone,  323 

Solomon,  son  of  Nachmanides,  I IO 

Solomon  Syrillo,  262 

Solomon  Wilna,  75 

Son  of  the  Law,  307,  312,  358 

Sopherim,  64 

Spencer,  Herbert,  97 

Steinschneider,  M.,  99,  172 

TAANITH,  58,  344 

Talmid  Chaber,  52,  344 

Talmid  Chakam,  7,  342 

Talmud  (of  Jerusalem  or  Babylon), 
16,  19,  33,  49,  52,  57-59,  64,  76,  78, 
81,  82,  86,  87,  89,  91,  92,  96,  101, 
104,  105,  in,  129,  131,  140,  151, 
155,  158,  195,  196,  206,  207,  209, 

2IO,    238,    252,    254-256,    26l,    262, 

271,  272,  277,  343 
Tanna,  pi.    Tannaim,    17,   84,    187, 

342,  343 

Tephillin,  249,  357 
Thackeray,  282 
Thirteen  Articles  of  the  Creed,   148, 

163,  164,  170,  176,  179 
Thirteen    Joules    (of  Interpretation), 

195 

Tobijah,  the  Priest,  175 
Tosephta,  81,  82,  92,  262,  271,  346 
Toy,  Prof.,  233-239,  251 
Tractate  Berachoth,  221,  271 
Tractate  Evidences,  192,  353 
Tractate  Joys,  194,  354 
Tractate  Sanhedrin,  156,  157,  159 
Tractate  Sopherim,  301,  312,  321,  358 
Tree  of  Life,  the,  133 
Troki,  Solomon,  161 

VARIAE  LECTIO NES  (of  the  Tal- 
mud), 261 

Viterbo,  Abraham  Chayim,  175,  176 
Vorsugerin,  324 


366 


STUDIES  IN  JUDAISM 


WARS  OF  THE  LORD,  101 

Watchman,  the,  59,  341,  345 
Weiss,  T.   H.,  65,  97,  99,   182,  183, 
185-187,   191-197,  206,  207,  209- 

212 

Wellhausen,  243 

Wisdom  of  Solomon,  127,  154 

Woilkennivdicke,  324 

YEDIAH,  119,  349 

Yeshibah,  pi.    Yeshiboth,   94-96,    293, 

347 
Yom-Tob  Heller,  196 


ZADDIK,  pi.  Zaddikim  (Zaddikism), 

36-44,  53,  298,  343 
Zadoc,  245 
Zebachim,  86,  347 
Zedner,  254-256 
Zehub,  137-139,  350 
Zerahiah  Hallevi  of  Gerona   (or  Ge- 

rondi),  100,  101,  ill 
Zion-Elegy,  208 
Zobeoth,  314,  359 

Zohar,  18,  19,  71,  91,  133,  258,  343 
Zunz,  Leopold,  44,  52,  56,  60,  65,  73, 

97,  183,  270,  305 


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SOME  JEWISH  WOMEN. 


HENRY  ZIRNDORF. 


OPINIONS   OF   THE  PRESS  s 

Moral  purity,  nobility  of  soul,  self-sacrifice,  deep  affection  and  devotion, 
sorrow  and  happiness  all  enter  into  these  biographies,  and  the  interest 
felt  in  their  perusal  is  added  to  by  the  "warmth  and  sympathy  which  the 
author  displays  and  by  his  cultured  and  vigorous  style  of  writing.— 
Philadelphia  Record. 

His  methods  are  at  once  a  simplification  and  expansion  of  Josephus  and 
the  Talmud, stories  simply  told,  faithful  presentation  of  the  virtues,  and  not 
infremiently  the  vices,  of  characters  sometimes  legendary,  generally 
real.—  yew  York  World. 

The  lives  here  given  are  interesting  in  all  cases,  and  are  thrilling  in 
some  cases.— Public  Opinion  (Washington,  D.  C.). 

The  volume  is  one  of  universal  historic  interest,  and  is  a  portrayal  of 
the  early  trials  of  Jewish  women.— Boston  Herald. 

Though  the  chapters  are  brief,  they  are  clearly  the  result  of  deep  and 
thorough  research  that  gives  the  modest  volume  an  historical  and  critical 
value.— Philadelphia  Times. 

It  is  an  altogether  creditable  undertaking  that  the  present  author  has 
brought  to  so  gratifying  a  close — the  silhouette  drawing  of  Biblical 
female  character  against  the  background  of  those  ancient  historic  times. 
— Minneapolis  Tribune. 

Henry  Zirndorf  ranks  high  as  a  student,  thinker  and  writer,  and  this 
little  book  will  go  far  to  encourage  the  study  of  Hebrew  literature. — 
Denver  .Republican. 

The  book  is  gracefully  written,  and  has  many  strong  touches  of  char- 
acterizations.—Toledo  Blade. 

The  sketches  are  based  upon  available  history  and  are  written  in  clear 
narrative  style. — Galveston  Aeu-s. 

Henry  Zirndorf  has  done  a  piece  of  work  of  much  literary  excellence 
in  "  SOME  JEWISH  WOMEN."— &/.  Louis  Pott-Dispatch. 

It  is  an  attractive  book  in  appearance  and  full  of  curious  biographical 
research. — Baltimore  Sun. 

The  writer  shows  careful  research  and  conscientiousness  in  making 
his  narratives  historically  correct  and  in  giving  to  each  heroine  her  just 
due.— American  Israelite  (Cincinnati). 


Bound  in  Cloth,  Ornamental,  Gilt  Top.    Price,  postpaid,  $1.25. 


HISTORY  op  THE  JEWS. 

BY 

PROFESSOR  H.  QRAETZ. 


Vol.      I.    From  the  Earliest  Period  to  tlie  Death  of  Simon  the 

Maccabee  (135  B.  C.  E,). 
Vol.    II.    From  the  Reign  of  Hyrcunus  to  the  Completion  of  the 

Babylonian  Talmud  (500  C.  E.). 
Vol.  III.    From  the  Completion  of  the  Babylonian  Talmud  to 

the  Banishment  of  the  Jews  from  England  (1290 

C.  E.). 

Vol.  IV.    From  the  Rise  of  the  Kabbala  (1270  C.  E.)  to  the  Per- 
manent Settlement  of  the  Marranosin  Holland  (1618 

C.  E.). 
Vol.      V.    From  the  Chmielnicki  Persecution  in  Poland  (1648 

C.  E.)  to  the  Present  Time. 

OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

Professor  Graetz's  History  is  universally  accepted  as  a  conscientious 
and  reliable  contribution  to  religious  literature.— Philadelphia  Telegraph. 

Aside  from  his  value  as  a  historian,  he  makes  his  pages  charming  by 
all  the  little  side-lights  and  illustrations  which  only  come  at  the  beck 
of  genius. — Chicago  Inter- Ocean. 

The  writer,  who  is  considered  by  far  the  greatest  of  Jewish  historians, 
is  the  pioneer  in  his  field  of  work— history  without  theology  or  polemics. 

.  .  .  His  monumental  work  promises  to  be  the  standard  by  which 
all  other  Jewish  histories  are  to  be  measured  by  Jews  for  many  years  to 
come. — Baltimore  American. 

Whenever  the  subject  constrains  the  author  to  discuss  the  Christian 
religion,  he  is  animated  by  a  spirit  not  unworthy  of  the  philosophic  and 
high-minded  hero  of  Lessing's  "  Nathan  the  Wise."—  New  York  Sun. 

It  is  an  exhaustive  and  scholarly  work,  for  which  the  student  of  his- 
tory has  leason  to  be  devoutly  thankful.  ...  It  will  be  welcomed 
also  for  the  writer's  excellent  style  and  for  the  almost  gossipy  way  in 
which  he  turns  aside  from  the  serious  narrative  to  illumine  his  pages 
with  illustrative  descriptions  of  life  and  scenery.— Detroit  Free  Press. 

One  of  the  striking  features  of  the  compilation  is  its  succinctness  and 
rapidity  of  narrative,  while  at  the  same  time  necessary  detail  is  not 
sacrificed. — Minneapolis  Tribune. 

Whatever  controversies  the  work  may  awaken,  of  its  noble  scholarship 
there  can  be  no  question. — Richmond  Dispatch. 

If  one  desires  to  study  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people  under  the 
direction  of  a  scholar  and  pleasant  writer  who  is  in  sympathy  with  his 
subject  because  he  is  himself  a  Jew,  he  should  resort  to  the  volumes  of 
Graetz. — Review  of  Reviews  (New  York). 

Bound  in  Cloth.  Price,  postpaid,  $3  per  volume. 


SABBATH  HOURS 

THOUGHTS. 
By  LIEBMAN  ADLER. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

Rabbi  Adler  was  a  man  of  strong  and  fertile  mind,  and  his  sermons 
are  eminently  readable. — Sunday  School  Times. 

As  one  turns  from  sermon  to  sermon,  he  gathers  a  wealth  of  precept, 
which,  if  he  would  practice,  he  would  make  both  himself  and  others 
happier.  We  might  quote  from  every  page  some  noble  utterance  or 
sweet  thought  well  worthy  of  the  cherishing  by  either  Jew  or  Christian. 
—Richmond  Dispatch. 

The  topics  discussed  are  in  the  most  instances  practical  in  their 
nature.  All  are  instructive,  and  passages  of  rare  c  loquence  are  of  fre- 
quent occurrence. — San  Francisco  Call. 

The  sermons  are  simple  and  careful  studies,  sometimes  of  doctrine, 
but  more  often  of  teaching  and  precept.— Chicago  Times. 

He  combined  scholarly  attainment  with  practical  experience,  and 
these  sermons  cover  a  wide  range  of  subject.  Some  of  them,  are  singu- 
larly modern  in  tone. — Indianapolis  News. 

They  are  modern  sermons,  dealing  with  the  problems  of  the  day,  and 
convey  the  interpretation  which  these  problems  should  receive  in  the 
light  of  the  Old  Testament  history.—  Boston  Herald. 

While  this  book  is  not  without  interest  in  those  communities  where 
there  is  no  scarcity  of  religious  teaching  and  influence,  it  cannot  fail  to 
be  particularly  so  in  those  communities  where  there  is  but  little  Jewish 
teaching. — Baltimore  American. 

The  sermons  are  thoughtful  and  earnest  in  tone  and  draw  many  forci- 
ble and  pertinent  lessons  from  the  Old  Testament  records.—  Syracuse 
Herald. 

They  are  saturated  with  Bible  lore,  but  every  incident  taken  from  the 
Old  Testament  is  made  to  illustrate  some  truth  in  modern  life. — San 
Francisco  Chronicle. 

They  are  calm  and  conservative,  .  .  .  applicable  in  their  essential 
meaning  to  the  modern  religious  needs  of  Gentile  as  well  as  Jew.  In 
style  they  are  eminently  clear  and  direct.— Review  of  Reviews  (New  York). 

Able,  forcible,  helpful  thoughts  upon  themes  most  essential  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  family,  society  and  the  state.—  Public  Opinion  (Washing- 
ton, D.  C.).  

Bound  in  Cloth.  Price,  postpaid,  $1.25. 


PAPERS 


OF 

Jewish  Women's  Congress 

HELD  AT  CHICAGO,  SEPTEMBER,  1893. 
OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

This  meeting  was  held  during  the  first  week  of  September,  and  was 
marked  by  the  presentation  of  some  particularly  interesting  addresses 
and  plans.  This  volume  is  a  complete  report  of  the  sessions.—  Chicago 
Times. 

The  collection  In  book  form  of  the  papers  read  at  the  Jewish  Women's 
Congress  .  .  .  makes  an  interesting  and  valuable  book  of  the  history 
and  affairs  of  the  Jewish  women  of  America  and  England.—  St.  Louis 
Post-Dispatch. 

A  handsomo  and  valuable  souvenir  of  an  event  of  great  significance 
to  the  people  of  the  Jewish  faith,  and  of  much  interest  and  value  to  in- 
telligent and  well-informed  people  of  all  faiths.—  .Kansas  City  Times. 

The  Congress  was  a  branch  of  the  parliament  of  religions  and  was  a 
great  success,  arousing  the  interest  of  Jews  and  Christians  alike,  and 
bringing  together  from  all  parts  of  the  country  women  interested  in 
their  religion,  following  similar  lines  of  work  and  sympathetic  in  ways 
of  thought.  .  .  .  The  papers  in  the  volume  are  all  of  interest.— 
Detroit  Free  Press. 

The  Jewish  Publication  Society  of  America  has  done  a  good  work  in 
gathering  up  and  issuing  in  a  well-printed  volume  the  "  Papers  of  the 
Jewish  Women's  Congress."  —  Cleveland  Plain-  Dealer. 

Bound  in  Cloth.  Price,  Postpaid,  $1.' 


OLD 
EUROPEAN   JEWRIES 

By  DAVID  PHILIPSON,  D.D. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS 

A  good  purpose  is  served  in  this  unpretending  little  book,  .  .  . 
which  contains  an  amount  and  kind  of  information  that  it  would  be 
difficult  to  find  elsewhere  without  great  labor.  The  author's  subject  is 
the  Ghetto,  or  Jewish  quarter  in  European  cities. — Literary  World 
(Boston). 

It  is  interesting  ...  to  see  the  foundation  of  ...  so  much 
fiction  that  is  familiar  to  us— to  go,  as  the  author  here  lias  gone  in  one 
of  his  trips  abroad,  into  the  remains  of  the  old  Jewries.— Baltimore  Sun. 

His  book  is  a  careful  study  limited  to  the  official  Ghetto.— Cincinnati 
'  Commercial-Gazette. 

Out-of-the-way  information,  grateful  to  the  delver  in  antiquities, 
forms  the  staple  of  a  work  on  the  historic  Ghettos  of  Europe. — Mil- 
waukee Sentinel. 

He  tells  the  story  of  the  Ghettos  calmly,  sympathetically  and  con- 
scientiously, and  his  deductions  are  in  harmony  with  those  of  all  other 
intelligent  and  fair-minded  men.—  Richmond  Dispatch. 

A  striking  study  of  the  results  of  a  system  that  has  left  its  mark  upon 
the  Jews  of  all  countries.— San  Francisco  Chronicle. 

He  has  carefully  gone  over  all  published  accounts  aud  made  discrimi- 
nating use  of  the  publications,  both  recent  and  older,  on  his  subject,  in 
German,  French  and  English.— Reform  Advocate  (Chicago). 


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JEWISH  LITERATURE 


AND 


OTHER  ESSAYS 

By    GUSTVVV 


OPINIONS  OF  THE   PRESS 

There  is  a  very  significant  sense  in  which  it  is  impossible  really  to  under- 
stand the  Bible  unless  one  knows  something  of  the  working  of  the  Jewish 
mind  in  letters  since  it  was  written.  One  can  heartily  commend  this  little 
volume  to  people  who  want  this  information. — TALCOTT  WILLIAMS,  Book 
News. 

The  essays  have  the  charm  of  an  attractive  style,  combined  with  a  sub  ect 
of  great  and  varied  interest. — Independent. 

A  very  informing  review  of  the  entire  round  of  Jewish  intellectual  activity. 
— S-inday  School  Times. 

Its  great  merit,  from  the  non-Jewish  standpoint,  is  that  it  looks  at  civiliza- 
tion and  history  and  literature  from  a  new  point  of  view  ;  it  opens  unsus- 
pecte'l  vistas,  reveals  a  wealth  of  fact  and  of  opinion  before  unknown. — 
Public  Opinion. 

The  author  shows  in  every  chapter  the  devoted  love  for  Judaism  which 
prompted  the  work,  and  which  gave  him  e  thusiasni  and  patience  for  the 
thorough  research  and  study  evinced. — Denver  Republican. 

A  splendid  and  eloquent  recital  of  the  glories  of  Jewish  religion,  philoso- 
lihy  and  song.— Philadelphia  Record. 

The  result  of  great  research  by  a  careful,  painstaking  scholar. — Albany 
Journal. 

The  reader  who  is  unacquainted  with  the  literary  life  of  the  highest  circles 
of  Jewish  society  will  have  his  eyes  opened  to  things  of  which,  perhaps,  he 
Las  never  dreamed. — New  Orleans  Picayune. 

For  popular,  yet  scholarly  treatment?  and  the  varied  character  of  its 
themes,  Dr.  Gustav  Karpeles'  "Jewish  Literature  and  other  Essays"  is  an 
almost  ideal  volume  for  a  Jewish  Publication  Society  to  issue. — Jewish  Mes- 
senger (New  York). 

All  of  the  essays  show  that  thorough  erudition,  clear  discernment  and 
criticism  for  which  their  author  is  noted. — Jewish  Exponent  ( Philadelphia). 


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Readings  and  Recitations 


FOR 


JEWISH  HOMES  AND  SCHOOLS 


COMPILED  BY 

ISABEL  E.    COHEN 


OPINIONS  OF  THE   PRESS. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  name  a  similar  collection  as  dignified  as  this.— 
Boston  Herald. 

To  many  the  revelation  of  the  extent  to  which  English  literature  is 
indebted  to  the  Hebrew  Bible  for  its  themes  and  images  will  come  as  a 
surprise. — New  Orleans  Times-Democrat. 

There  is  a  rich  fund  of  literature  to  choose  from  in  making  a  selection 
of  the  kind,  for  the  Old  Testament  and  the  stories  of  the  old  Jewish 
writers  have  furnished  many  themes  to  our  poets— both  English  and 
American— from  Browning,  Longfellow,  Whittier  and  Aldrich,  to  Edwin 
Arnold. — Baltimore  Sun. 

One  who  reads  these  selections  will  find  therein  the  casus  esse  of  Juda- 
ism, and  the  more  that  its  inspiration  and  the  treasures  of  its  own  litera- 
ture are  thus  made  accessible  to  Jew  and  non-Jew  alike,  the  stronger 
will  be  the  "hooks  of  steel "  by  which  it  will  clasp  the  affection  of  its 
followers.— Jewish  South  (Richmond). 

The  compiler  has,  with  rare  taste,  selected  from  English  literature  the 
masterpieces  tf  song  and  thought,  written  under  the  inspiration  and  as 
paraphrases  of  Biblical  poetry.  To  these  have  been  added  English 
versions  of  some  of  the  choicest  gems  from  the  divan  of  Jewish  poets. 
This  book  should  be  found  in  every  Jewish  home ;  it  should  find  its  way 
into  every  Jewish  Sabbath-School ;  for  none  will  lay  it  aside  without 
feeling  that  a  religion,  which  could  intone  such  songs  and  inspire  such 
bards,  has  every  claim  upon  the  intelligent  reverence  of  those  in  its 
household  born. — E.  G.  II.,  in  Reform  Advocate  (Chicago). 


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